With a day-and-a-half on our hands, we rented a car and set out to find some fun. I'll let you decide if we succeeded.
But first, just to get you in the right frame of mind: Fairbanks is the second largest city in the state with a population of 32,000. The University of Alaska (Go Nanooks!) is there and the town boasts both an agricultural and mining heritage.
OK, go!
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| Strange sculpture at the University of Alaska. After being in approximately 200 Alaskan gift shops, I still had not found a sweatshirt I liked. So I made Jim find the bookstore at U of A and we finally scratched that itch. What upside down turtles with human hands have to do with Alaska, I'll never know. |
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| This is what sled dogs do after a training run. They run like goofy children into the river to cool off. I have never seen happier dogs! The noise was hilarious. |
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| This native Athabaskan coat was unbelievably gorgeous in person. The workmanship (well, workwomanship, I imagine) was extraordinary. The coat itself is not funny. The fact that this lovely girl had to model it for us ... on one of the, umm, two days we had sun on our trip ... was funny. A warm, sunny day and a coat made for 70-degrees below don't mix. Poor kid. |
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| Moose! (On the left, just in case you missed it.) Oh, and I see a perfectly cute red sweatshirt hanging right there. Why didn't I buy that one? |
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| Same store ... bear! OK, after spending 24/7 with each other for almost two weeks, things that maybe weren't so funny seemed funny. |
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| One of the most important facts I took away from our Alaskan adventure was ... there were a LOT of whorehouses. I took photos of several. I'll let you decide if that's odd or not. |
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| We rented a car and drove to North Pole. This is the post office your letters go to when you write to Santa. There wasn't much in the town. All the light posts were painted red and white like candy canes ... |
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| And some of the local businesses seemed to get into it ... |
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| But this giant Santa, next to a gift store, was really strange. Why is he fenced in? Couldn't he be placed where there isn't a power line in front of his forehead? It's just not a pretty photo op, right? |
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| The whole North Pole thing is funnier because, on our cruise, there was a Santa convention onboard. Yup, 70-ish Santa Clauses (and a few Mrs. Clauses) in some sort of full costume like that above ... red cowboy hat Santa ... all the time. We saw Santas in our ports of call, in glass elevators on the ship, eating reindeer chili. Only the non-flyers go in the chili, they assured us. |
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| Yes, please, if the chain link and barbed-wire aren't enough of a deterrent, read this sign. |
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| What could be more fun than finding actual gold? We nabbed about $33 worth between the two of us and I have made sure Kati knows where we're keeping it so she can cash in when we kick our respective buckets. |
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| Sign at our last hotel. There is a lot to be wary of in Alaska ... bear, moose, earthquakes, freezing cold and snow sliding off the roof and smashing your car. |
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| In museum case ... mittens made of fox heads. Puppets that keep your hands warm! I am guessing 24-hours of darkness in the winter can lead to odd forms of entertainment! |
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| Rollerblading and gunfighting prohibited. Good rule. |
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| Good thing they put the sign up. Don't drive into the river to get to the road on the other side. Unless it's winter and the river is frozen, that is. But for now, the sign and barricade should suffice. |
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| My favorite photo of the vacation. |
Hope you had a little fun on this journey, too!
Exercise: Another two days with a big, fat ZERO.
Food Splurge: We split a bag of Skittles.
Hair Day Rating (1=worst, 10=best): Day 1: 7. Day 2: 7 that turned into a 5 after a red-eye flight and a very long bus ride from O'Hare.
Exercise: Another two days with a big, fat ZERO.
Food Splurge: We split a bag of Skittles.
Hair Day Rating (1=worst, 10=best): Day 1: 7. Day 2: 7 that turned into a 5 after a red-eye flight and a very long bus ride from O'Hare.
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