Three Days in Fairbanks the Fair
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Of all the cities and towns we visited in Alaska, we’d rate Fairbanks right up there with the best. Dubbed the ‘Golden Heart of the Interior’, it’s a lovely city. We began ticking off the items on our ‘to see and do’ list as soon as the chores were done. First stop, the Morris-Thompson Cultural Center and Visitors Center.
It’s a beautiful building with excellent exhibits and films, knowledgeable and helpful staff and a plethora of available information and brochures… all free of charge.
With a city map in hand, we started out on a walking tour. The restored 1910 Gould log cabin is right in front of the visitors center. A traditional garden bloomed around the cabin and raspberries were ripe for the picking… and very tasty, we might add.
We passed under the Antler Arch, a unique archway of more than 100 moose and caribou antlers collected from all over interior Alaska and signed by the donors.
The Chena River runs through the center of the city and the self-guided walk ambled along above its shores. Folks were enjoying themselves on the river in the warm summer sun… boating, paddle boarding, kayaking, rafting and tubing.
The path is accented with interesting and unique statues and sculptures that tell of important people and events in Fairbanks’ history. Like so many American cities, there were scores of homeless folks in the parks and on the streets. Remember… you can click on the thumbnail to enlarge the photo.
Across the Chena on a footbridge, we espied the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Built in 1904 by a young Jesuit priest, this is the first Catholic Church in the Interior. It originally stood on the other side of the Chena River, but in 1911 the priest was ordered to move it to the opposite side. Lacking a bridge, the church was moved that winter over the ice to its present location where it sits, looking strangely out of place close to a busy street, but obviously at home.
We walked back across the river on the !st Avenue bridge where a unique sculpture entitled “Polaris” caught our eye. Its tallest spire points to the North Star.
Close by was the ‘End of the Alaska Highway’ marker. Though Delta Junction is the ‘official’ end of the Alaska Highway since the road to Fairbanks was already built when the Alcan was constructed, Fairbanks is actually considered the ‘end’ of the road and Fairbanks’ marker proclaims it.
Throughout our walk, we heard chimes on the quarter hour, a longer chimed tune on the half hour and a symphony of chimes on the hour. We finally reached the Golden Heart Plaza Clock Tower and Carillon to discover the source of our musical entertainment.
That same afternoon we visited Pioneer Park, a 44-acre historical theme park. Originally constructed in 1967 as the Alaska 67 Centennial Exposition in celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Alaska Purchase, the site was subsequently given to the state and then to the city when it was renamed Alaskaland. Amid controversy, the name changed again a few years later to Pioneer Park to reflect more accurately its historical theme.
We visited on a weekday and several of the shops and exhibits were closed. General admission to the park is free and we were glad since the park has seen better days.
Highlights included the original train car, the ‘Denali’, that President Harding rode in to Nenana in 1923 when he drove the golden spike to signify the completion of the 500-mile long Alaska Railroad. Harding, by the way, was the first president to visit Alaska.
The “STR Nenana” known as the Last Lady of the River, is a sternwheel paddleship that originally carried freight and passengers up and down Alaska’s many rivers between 1933-1954. “She is the only surviving wooden ship of this type and was for this reason declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.” The lady is in dire need of attention.
Old cabins and houses have been moved to the park and have been converted into shops and boutiques.
There were several museums within the park, all requiring a fee… a pioneer museum, a railroad museum and an aviation museum. The Native Village looked abandoned.
One section of the park is also home of the highly touted Alaska Salmon Bake which might have been interesting, but not interesting enough for us to return in the evening for a scheduled ‘seating’.
On another day, we spent the better part of the afternoon at the University of Alaska Fairbank’s Museum of the North. The university campus is beautiful, spread out on a hilltop overlooking the city. The museum building is modern, spacious and distinctive, both inside and out.
A combination of art, artifacts, natural history and native culture, the museum offers a little bit of everything Alaska. Just inside the entrance was a display describing the remains of a new species of dinosaur that were found in Colville River, North Slope Alaska (that’s up Dalton Highway) and named Uquuinaalak kuukpidensis, an Inupiaq derived word meaning “ancient grazer of the Colville River”. A hadrosaur endemic to Alaska, this dino was a duck-billed plant-eater and the most completely known polar dinosaur in the world.
Overhead in the high, vaulted-ceiling lobby, hung the skeleton of an enormous bowhead whale harvested in 1963 during an autumn subsistence whale hunt in the western Beaufort Sea.
We entered the main exhibit area which was quite crowded with visitors as well as exhibits. There was almost too much to see in one go.
Different areas were allocated to native cultural artifacts such as totem poles and ceremonial clothing. The Chilkat ceremonial robe was particularly beautiful and impressive.
As we wandered, I was especially attracted to exhibits that highlighted women who played instrumental roles in Alaska’s colorful history.
In the natural history area, Blue Babe is considered one of the museum’s prize possessions. The reconstructed carcass of a steppe bison that roamed the area around ~40,000 years ago, Babe was killed by a predator and her remains were preserved in silt and subsequently in the permafrost until discovered in 1979.
A sweeping staircase brought us to the second floor which was dedicated to Alaskan art. Take a look.
Probably the highlight of our time in Fairbanks was a visit to Creamer’s Field, which by dint of its name, does not sound all that exciting. Creamer’s Field originally belonged to the Creamer family that, most appropriate to their name, owned and operated a dairy farm in Fairbanks from 1908 until 1966.
Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the dairy complex including the original farmhouse, which serves as a Visitor Center, is home to the 2500 acre Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.
With several miles of walking trails through fields and with forest birds abounding, the place was absolutely wonderful, more so because it was sandhill crane migration time. This is one of those ‘free’ things that you want to donate to just because it’s so enjoyable to experience.
Sandhill cranes were everywhere… hundreds of them. Tall and regal with a distinctive featherless red patch on its crown, the cranes performed an aerial avian ballet before landing in a nearby field where many of their cousins were already feeding. As many as 2,000 birds are expected during the migration period in August.
The cranes in this area are considered lesser sandhill cranes and follow the longest migration route of all the sandhill crane species. These cranes migrate through the western Great Plains and winter in West Texas. In late April, they arrive back in Creamer’s Field for mating and head further north to nest.
Some sandhill crane trivia:
-Adult sandhill males are called ‘roans’, female are called ‘mares’ and newly hatched chicks are called ‘colts’.
-Sandhill cranes can fly at 30-50 mph at altitudes as high as 3,000-5,000 feet
-Cranes mate for life, 20-35 years in the wild.
Cranes ‘dance’ when they are nervous, excited or threatened. They’re very territorial.
Sandhill cranes weren’t the only attraction of the refuge. We visited a bird-banding area where Laurel, the biologist, was banding and examining the health of yellow rumped warblers, a common summer songbird at the refuge that heads south for the winter.
After explaining the process and letting us watch the banding, she gently placed the tiny bird in David’s hand and allowed him to release it. The tiny captive wasted no time in taking to wing and was gone in an instant, wondering what the heck had just happened to him.
It was evident that there was much more of Fairbanks to see and some of it is only available to experience in the winter months. It’s one of the best spots to view the Northern Lights. Its winter carnival and ice sculpture competitions are famous as are the iconic dogsled races. It would be great to return for a visit to experience these events if only it wasn’t for the snow and cold… but then, that’s what warm clothes and shovels are for… right?
Next time, we’re on the road again. Join us as we hit the Alaska Highway… this time heading south.