“There’s a bear outside the coach!!”
“Mmmmmm???”
“There’s a bear in the campsite, right by the coach!!”
“What? You idiot, that’s a tree limb, it’s been making that noise all night.”
“Oh”
No clues as to who was the idiot, but he has a beard.
Thus started our day.
We departed the campsite and headed north, with more wonderful weather, towards Fairbanks.
Several scenic views took our fancy, with excellent panoramic vistas, so it was after 12 when we rolled into town.
Our first port of call was the Tanana Valley State Fair, last day of which was today, so we wandered around eating leg of turkey and reindeer sausage crepe and cake of funnel. Your usual fair fodder, overpriced and over carbed, but it’s a summer fair, what else can you do?
I got a free T shirt from “Defenders of Wildlife” people, coz I told the tale of mooselet saving, so that was nice.
Just down the road was the farmer’s market, where we sampled and bought some delish mustard, of the “Moosetard” brand. One is Fairbanks smoked lager flavor, and the other is curried apricot. All the samples were yummy, and we had to try several, a few times, until we had decided!
Next stop was University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where we first visited their large animal rescue and research establishment. They breed muskox, reindeer and caribou, for biological studies, to help understand better what makes them tick, and also help construction projects be determined, whether there will be any serious impact on certain wildlife if certain projects go ahead, etc, etc.
After, we wandered around the University’s botanical gardens, where Marlipops spent a happy hour taking pix, and your fearless captain fell asleep under the runner bean plant, listening to the quite hum of the bumbly bees!
Marlipops has taken hundreds of close up flower pix, some with bugs of various sizes, and will be putting together an album in due course.
Finally, we went to the ultra modern museum, where we wandered around the various exhibits and art, the most interesting being the History of Alaska. We saw a painting of a polar bear, which we swore was a photo, until we got very close. One of the best paintings I have ever seen in my life for realism, excluding of course, the oil portraits done by Wilda, mom in law extraordinaire!!
Then, on to Gulliver’s Bookstore for free coffee, free WiFi, and second hand paperbacks for 75 cents. I was in heaven.
The drive to and from Fairbanks, approx 75 miles was not brilliant, no wildlife except a couple of rabbits, and a lot of frost heave and construction. Welcome back, Alaska dust!!
