Tok to Fairbanks

Every morning when we start out, Bongo is pointing the way. He hasn't steered us wrong yet. . .he always knows the way!

 Yesterday we started our journey in Tok and drove to Fairbanks. Along the way we made a couple stops.

The scenery was beautiful and we stopped to snap some pictures of the mountains. We mistakenly thought they might be Denali, but they weren't. A local corrected us and these mountains are known at "The Three Sisters."

The Alaska Highway officially ends in Delta Junction and we stopped to take some pictures. As the highway continues from here, it becomes the Richardson Highway. There is a highway marker here similar to the one in Dawson Creek at the start of the Alaska Highway, but it is smaller. . . and not in the middle of a road. LOL There is also a roadhouse there which served travelers at one time along the road. There are several roadhouses in Alaska which have been restored. This one is known as the Sullivan Roadhouse.

As we got closer to Fairbanks, we passed through North Pole, Alaska. We stopped and shopped a little and took pictures of Santa's reindeer. Santa was inside visiting with children and adults alike. I was able to send some postcards for Ronan and Aenea and explained to them that I had told Santa they have been very good so that he can keep them on his "good" list.

We drove into Fairbanks and parked at the River's Edge Campground. It is a well appointed campground, but expensive. . . as they all are on this trip.

Today we all jumped into our motorhome and we drove up to the pipeline viewpoint. We had seen part of it crossing a bridge on our drive yesterday, but was not able to stop. So we drove out of town to where there was a viewing area. It was interesting. I remember when they first talked about this pipeline and then started building it. A husband of a woman in my school corporation was actually working on it back in the 70's. Such a big event in history and I have now seen it up close.

We then turned back toward town and went to Pioneer Park. It is a theme park of sorts which has a "Gold Rush Village" which is a village of old houses, most log houses, which were moved here from different places in town. A little village was constructed and now the homes house little businesses and museums. It was quite an interested place as they had several museums which we toured. Most everything there was free with some nominal donations at the museums.

On the way home, we stopped at a Safeway and a Fred Meyer store to get a few provisions. We eat out very little and have saved quite a bit of money by eating in our coaches. Meals out are so expensive up here. But we are saving our restaurant eating till we get to some great seafood places.

Till next time. . .

Dale