Fairbanks

With saddness I left Denali Park on Friday afternoon and traveled by train, once again, to Fairbanks.  I like Fairbanks, it's as far north as you can go in Alaska and not feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.  About 90,000 people live in Fairbanks, with an average age of 27. 

The Alaska Railroad

We followed the Nenana River for quite awhile on our way to Fairbanks.

The trip from Denali Park to Fairbanks took about 4 hours.

The water is grey from the glacial silt.

This morning (Saturday) I went on a Chena River riverboat cruise.

I thought some of my former coworkers might get a kick out of this.  Pull your airplane out of the driveway and take off on the river.  (There's a grass ramp leading down to the water not in the photo.)

It was pretty and peaceful on the river.

There was a misty rain most of the morning.

reindeer

Here are Dasher, Cupid and Blitzen!

After the riverboat...

Panning for gold!  I love doing this!  I don't even care that I only got $5 worth of gold.

Last stop today was this section of the Alaska Pipeline.

You can see in going into the ground in the left side of the photo.

Tomorrow morning (Sunday) I leave Fairbanks and head off to the Yukon.  It's a little "rustic" there so I probably won't be able to post anything for a few days.  I'm excited, I love the Yukon!