Wednesday, 24 July

The Journey from Tok to Delta Junction

Today, we traveled 198 miles to North Pole, AK. Our route had us following the Tanana River through dense boreal forests. We could see distant mountain ranges, including glimpses of the Alaska Range to the south.

The highway crossed rivers like the Tanana, Delta, Gerstie, and Johnson Rivers on the original 1944 bridges. When we crossed the Johnson River Bridge, I took pictures of the wooden planks. Many bridges are being replaced because they no longer meet the height or weight requirements needed for modern freight haulers.

Another fascinating natural feature we saw was braided rivers. These rivers consisted of multiple shallow channels that diverged and rejoined around small, often temporary islands called braid bars. The channels and bars were highly dynamic, constantly shifting with the water and sediment load.

Just before we got to Delta Junction, we saw a moose cow and her calf cross the road. This was a bucket list item for the trip, check!

Delta Meat and Sausage

Just outside Delta Junction, we stopped at Delta Meat and Sausage, which specializes in providing high-quality, locally sourced meats, including beef, pork, buffalo, yak, elk, and reindeer. It was a recommended stop, but there wasn’t much to see inside except a refrigerator with wrapped meat and a glass window where you could watch the butcher at work. We bought some elk and yak jerky for fun.

Delta Junction Visitor Center

When we arrived, the visitor center was closed for lunch.

Outside was the metal frame of the iconic Mile 1422 Milepost, which marked the end of the Alaska-Canadian Highway. The wooden panels had been removed earlier for repair. (They were reinstalled on August 17, 2024.) There were also some giant mosquito sculptures, a Trans Alaska Pipeline Pig, and a painted thermometer showing a record low temperature of -63°F on January 6, 1975.

Sullivan Roadhouse Historical Museum

The Sullivan Roadhouse, built in 1905 by John and Florence Sullivan, was a welcoming stop for travelers on the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail.

Today, the Sullivan Roadhouse is a restored log cabin that houses a collection of artifacts and photographs from the early 1900s. Inside is a recreated kitchen, dining table, and a cozy bedroom with an iron bed and hand-sawn furniture. The walls were covered with information, pictures, and artifacts detailing life along the trail.

Outside were some informational signs and a small garden.

Highway’s End Farmers Market

A farmers market with wooden stalls was across the street from the visitor center. Since it was early in the season, most stalls sold handmade crafts and baked items instead of produce. We talked with a couple of vendors and learned that most were Ukranian, which we learned makes up 15 percent of the local population. We bought a Ukranian Pumpkin Pirozhki and some honey with the comb still in it. The Pumpkin Pirozhki tasted awful because it was stuffed with the fibrous pumpkin rind that appeared to be uncooked.

Buffalo Center Drive-in

Near the Visitor Center and Farmers Market was a restaurant with a large outdoor seating area under a canopy that seemed popular. The Buffalo Center Drive-In was an old-style drive-in where cars would park in front of the restaurant, and a waitress would come out to their vehicle and take their order. There was also a walk-up window. In addition to the usual fast foods, they also served halibut and buffalo.

We just ordered some chicken tenders and fries to go. It took a while to get our order because it was so busy. When we finally got the food, we needed to eat it in the truck to get moving again.

The Journey from Delta Junction to North Pole

As we left Delta Junction, we saw a moose, which we had initially thought was a bicyclist, crossing the road from a distance.

We continued on AK-2 from Delta Junction, now called the Richardson Highway. We followed the Tanana River, with occasional views of the distant Alaskan Range through the dense forests. We passed several lakes, such as Birch Lake, Quartz Lake, and Harding Lake. We spent some time at a rest stop at Birch Lake, which had benches overlooking the lake with its clear water and blooming lily pads. As we got closer to Fairbanks, the landscape became more expansive, with fewer trees and more open spaces.

Eielson Air Force Base

About 26 miles southeast of Fairbanks, the Richardson Highway took us through Eielson Air Force Base, where we saw a couple of F-35A Lightning II combat aircraft take off. They were extremely loud and impressive. Later that night, on the news, we learned that they may have been involved in an intercept mission of a couple of Russian aircraft.

Fairbanks/Chena River KOA

The Fairbanks/Chena River KOA is located in the North Pole. It was a very large campground that sat alongside the Chena River. We were assigned a smaller site, but we still had room for our camper and truck. The campground had extremely large gravel roads, which made backing into the site easy. Our site was level, with grass strips between us and the next site. The sewer was at the end of the site, which required sewer hose extensions.

Santa Claus House

After setting up the camper, we drove to the Santa Claus House.

The Santa Claus House was founded in 1952 at the North Pole as a community general store with a soda fountain. It was later relocated to its present location when the Richardson Highway was rerouted in 1972.

The store was full of Christmas items, as expected. Someone dressed in a Santa Claus outfit called and talked with our niece. He also had us create a video with him to send to her, which was a lot of fun. We briefly looked through the various items for sale, and I found several funny T-shirts I liked, but I did not buy any.

We then went outside to see the 42-foot-tall, 900-pound Santa Claus sat outside. It was built in the 1960s, bought in 1972, repaired, and installed at its present location in 1983.

The Antler Academy (of Flying & Reindeer Games) was next to Santa Claus House. It was going through renovations, but you could still buy tickets to see Santa’s Reindeer Team up close.

The Knotty Shop

We then ran to The Knotty Shoppe, which had Alaskan souvenirs, gifts, and ice cream. The building had many knotty pine posts and rafters inside and outside. In the back, there was a nice taxidermy display of Alaskan animals. Outside were some large wood sculptures made of knotty pine.

Thursday, 25 July

Riverboat Discovery

We got picked up at the campground by a motorcoach at 8 am for a three-hour Sternwheeler ‘Riverboat Discovery’ Cruise down the Chena River. It was a beautiful day with a high of 83, about 12 degrees warmer than average, and no rain in the forecast.

We arrived at 8:15 and boarded at 8:45. The ship served coffee and donuts before we took off.

The steamboat pilot took us down the Chena River and gave us some history of the steamboat, Fairbanks, and the Chena River. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed the relaxing cruise and waving at the people who greeted us from the shore.

Float Plane Demonstration

A short distance down the river, the pilot directed our attention to a bright yellow pontoon plane that took off, flew a couple of loops around us, and landed next to us on the river. ‍Our steamboat pilot explained the plane’s vital role in remote Alaska and then had the bush pilot talk with us.

Sled Dog Demonstration

We then cruised farther up the river and stopped outside the home and kennel of the late four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher. While we looked over the side of the boat, Dave and Tekla Monson, Susan’s husband and daughter, demonstrated kennel life and the challenges of making a champion dogsled team. They showed how they exercise the dogs with a wheeled-sled and are rewarded with a plunge into the river afterward. They also shared the inspirational story of Granite, Susan Butcher’s lead sled dog, who overcame being the runt of the litter, illness, and injury to lead the team to several Iditarod wins.

Chena Village

We then continued down the river until we reached the Chena Village.

Chena Village was a reconstructed Athabascan village with spruce log cabins, a cache for storing supplies, a primitive spruce bark hut, and fur pelts. We stopped beside a fish wheel, where a guide gave us a brief village overview.

Some caribou/reindeer “suddenly” appeared and ran down to the river to drink and eat some hidden treats.

We then continued down the river to where it joined the Tanana River.

We then turned around and docked at Chena Village. Alaskan Native Guides divided us into three groups and led us to various village locations. We were rotated every 15-20 minutes and given demonstrations at each location about Athabascan life before European influence, the lives of the trappers and early European settlers, and garments and hides.

At the end of our guided tour, we had time to explore the village independently. This allowed us to walk through the cabins, watch fish getting filleted, get a children’s book signed about Granite, and interact with our guides. A handler from Susan Butcher’s Trail Breaker Kennel and a few sled dogs were available to answer any questions about the Alaskan Husky and the sport of Dog Mushing.

We reboarded and returned to the riverboat dock when they blew the steamboat whistle. When we disembarked, we were served a family-style lunch at the Riverboat Dining Hall: hearty Miner’s Stew, Rustic Roasted Vegetables, Apple Pecan Salad, Sourdough rolls, Brownie, Coffee, Tea, or Water. We then had a little time to explore the gift shop before boarding the motorcoach to return to the campground.

Fairbanks Ice Museum

In the afternoon, we had two tours in downtown Fairbanks. The charter bus left the campground around 2:45 and dropped us off at the Fairbanks Ice Museum. This museum was housed in the historic Lacey Street Theater building, an Art Deco architectural landmark constructed in 1939. Inside was a giant refrigerator with around a dozen large ice sculptures we could interact with on our own — motorcycles and a moose you could sit on, carriages you could sit in, an ice slide you slide down. The detail had melted away in most of them, but they were a lot of fun to get pictures with. Near the of our tour, we were given an ice sculpting demonstration.

Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center

We walked from the Ice Museum to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Information Museum. The downtown area was a mixture of historic and new buildings, and the streets were desolate of people. Some public artwork was scattered about, such as a painted steam vent.

Besides having brochures and information about the area, it had a small museum divided into four sections: The People and the Land, featuring exhibits about the lives of people in the interior; Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), featuring a new approach by Congress to federal Indian policy; Archeology on Ice, featuring exhibits on climate change; and Elders Hall and Language Nook, highlighting the First Nation culture.

Outside was an interesting bird sculpture, an antler arch, and a one-hundred-year-old log cabin.

The motorcoach returned us to the campground around 5:30.

Friday, 26 July

Gold Dredge #8 Tour

The high temperature was 68 degrees in the morning and decreased throughout the day. We had scattered light rain in the morning and steady light rain in the afternoon.

We took the motorcoach at 9 a.m. to the Gold Dredge #8 tour, 9 miles north of Fairbanks. We were dropped off at a location where the Alyeska oil pipeline was above ground. Next to it was a pipe with a cutaway showing a pig used to clean the inside of the pipes. After more groups arrived, we were given a presentation on the history and mechanics of the pipeline’s construction.

We were then loaded into train cars on a scaled replica of a narrow-gauge train called the Tanana Valley Railroad and taken through the original gold fields.

Our first stop was a demonstration of windlass mining, in which miners dig a vertical mine shaft and use a windlass (a mechanical device) to hoist ore buckets to the surface. The windlass typically consists of a rotating drum or wheel with a rope or chain attached to the buckets. As the drum turns, the buckets are lifted from the depths of the mine shaft, bringing up the gold-bearing material.

We were then shown an old hydraulic mining field with the rusted cannons and pipes still in place. The water was supplied by the Davidson Ditch, a 90-mile pipeline built in the 1920s.

The train then took us past Gold Dredge #8, used in bucket-line dredge mining. This type of mining uses a sizable floating dredge with a continuous chain of buckets to scoop up gold-bearing material from a riverbed or alluvial deposit. A crane-like structure called a gantry pulls up the buckets, raising or lowering the bucket assembly. The material is then processed on board the dredge to extract gold. Goldstream Dredge #8 operated between 1928 and 1959, cut a 4.5-mile track and produced 7.5 million ounces of gold.

The train then dropped us off at their “Main Camp,” where we were handed a bag of gold-bearing dirt and shown how to pan for gold. Everyone found different amounts of gold. We then took our gold into their mining museum and handed it to a staff member who weighed it and offered to sell us some jewelry where it could be placed.

We then had time to walk around their museum, which had information and artifacts from the early 1900s about gold mining, from cleaning the land to thawing the frozen ground to the final recovery of the gold. It also had information about the hearty sourdoughs that first prospected in the area and the hundreds of workers who operated the dredges during their heyday. Finally, they displayed Ice Age fossils found during the mining process.

The motorcoach picked us up and returned to the campground by 11:30 am.

University of Alaska Museum of the North

In the afternoon, we drove over on our own to the University of Alaska Museum of the North, which is located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The museum had many exhibits, including Alaska Native cultures, natural wonders, diverse wildlife, and 2,000 years of Alaskan art. It houses over 2.5 million artifacts and specimens organized into ten disciplines: archeology, birds, earth sciences, fine arts, and more. A giant skeleton of a Bowhead Whale hung from the ceiling at the main entrance.

It also had a theater where we watched the movie A Year in the Life of a Bowhead Whale. There was also a museum store and cafe on site. 

Saturday, 27 July

Tanana Valley Farmers Market

The high was only expected to be 56 degrees, with an overcast sky and rain expected in the afternoon. It was rainy, but we drove to the Tanana Valley Farmers Market in the morning. It is always fun to visit farmer’s markets and support local farmers and artisans while enjoying the vibrant community atmosphere.

Tanana Valley State Fair

We then drove to the opening day of the Tanana Valley State Fair, the oldest state fair in Alaska, dating back to 1924. The theme was “Thank You for Bee-ing a Friend.” Although it rained most of the time, we still enjoyed walking around the midway, food booths, exhibits, and 4-H displays. It was smaller than a small county fair in the lower 48, so it did not take long to explore the fair several times. A possible reflection of the local culture was that the vendor area mainly consisted of local churches.

When we first entered the fairgrounds, we enjoyed some Navajo tacos, and later, we enjoyed some Fried Halibut, which seemed to be a popular food item in Alaska.

Sunday, 28 July

We booked an Arctic Circle Midnight Sun Fly Drive Adventure—Southbound Tour through the Northern Alaska Tour Company. The tour consisted of a one-day guided roundtrip journey. We were flown to Coldfoot above the Arctic Circle, followed by a drive down the Dalton Highway across the Arctic Circle back to Fairbanks.

The weather was overcast, and the temperature was a little below average, with an expected high in Fairbanks of 65 degrees.

Flight to Coldfoot

We checked in at the airport around 11 a.m. Once the entire tour group was present, we were given a tour overview and safety briefing. We were also weighed, but the pilot did not appear concerned about balancing the weight when we loaded.

We were loaded onto a 6-passenger twin-engine Piper Chieftain around 12:40 pm, with each seat having a window. We were lucky enough to get the seats just behind the pilot. We were all given a headset to hear the pilot and muffle the loud engine noise. For most of the trip, we were above the clouds and unable to see the ground because of the heavy overcast. The pilots tried their best to fly us to areas with fewer clouds but were mostly unsuccessful. They did announce when we cross the Arctic Circle at approximately 66 degrees 33 minutes north latitude. This means that at this line of latitude, the sun will not set on the summer solstice or rise on the winter solstice. They also made sure to fly over the Gates of the Arctic National Park so we could check that off our national parks list.

We arrived at Coldfoot around 2:15.

Coldfoot

A van picked us up at the airport and took us to the gift shop/bar in Coldfoot.

Coldfoot was initially established as a gold-mining town in the late 1800s. Prospectors discovered gold in the area in 1899, but many got “cold feet” about spending the harsh winter there and left, which is how the town got its name. The gold rush in Coldfoot was short-lived, and by the early 1900s, the city was largely abandoned. Coldfoot saw a resurgence in the 1970s with the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Today, Coldfoot serves as a truck stop on the Dalton Highway, providing essential services like lodging, dining, gasoline, and even a post office for travelers heading to the northern reaches of Alaska. This is also the northernmost point where you can buy a beer in Alaska, so for fun, we bought ourselves an Alaskan beer.

We then shuttled over to the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center. This center is a collaborative effort between three federal agencies: the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It featured exhibits on the natural and cultural history of the Arctic region, including information about the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, local wildlife, and the history of gold mining in the area.

The Journey from Coldfoot to South Fork of Koyukuk River Bridge

About an hour after landing in Coldfoot, we headed down the Dalton Highway toward Fairbanks. Our driver used a CB radio to communicate with another tour van, but I later saw everyone traveling on the highway used it. Our driver let truckers behind us know they were free to pass and alerted them to our location if we were pulling back onto the roadway after a stop. There are a lot of blind turns and hills on the route, so CB radios are an absolute must.

The Dalton Highway was constructed in 1974 to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and is named after James Dalton, an Alaska engineer who pioneered road building in this harsh terrain. It had both gravel and paved sections and was very rough overall. The highway follows the Alyeska Pipeline, and 554 elevated crossings, at least ten feet high, allow the free movement of large game across the pipeline.

About 30 miles south of Coldfoot, we stopped at the South Fork of the Koyukuk River (MP165.2), where the pipeline crossed the river above ground.

The Journey from South Fork Bridge to Artic Circle

Our next stop was at Grayling Lake’s day-use area (MP 307). A road sign there stated:

“Grayling Lake-3,000 Years of Use Before the Bulldozers
One little-known effect of pipeline construction was the increase in our knowledge of the past. Before bulldozers could crawl, archaeologists combed the proposed pipeline route, excavating more than 300 sites in five years. This tense effort provided archaeological knowledge of an 800-mile cross-section of Alaska.
Two to three thousand years ago, Native hunters stopped here to take in the view, just as you have done today- but they did so with a much more serious intent. As they camped on this overlook, they watched for caribou and moose and prepared for the hunt. How do we know such details from thousands of years ago? Archaeologists have been investigating this site since the 1970s. They discovered obsidian and chert micro blades, scrapers, well-made projectile points, crude bifaces, and notched pebbles. Flakes of stone indicate that stone tools were sharpened or repaired here, perhaps in preparation for the hunt.

We then stopped at Gobblers Knob (MP 132)

People Who Left a Mark
The names along the Dalton reflect the people who climbed these hills and floated these rivers. Kanuti, Yukon, and Koyukuk echo the heritage of the Athabascan Indians and Inupiaq Eskimos who hunt and fish these lands. Prospect, Gold Creek, and Bonanza speak of the dreams of the miners. With the building of the road, names like Gobblers Knob, Roller Coaster, and Connection Rock were added to the maps.

The row of low hills in the foreground is part of the Jack White Range. Spanning only 16 miles, this mountain range is dwarfed by its neighbor, the Brooks Range. The highest point in the Jack White Range is Pope Creek Dome at 2,850 feet. Prospect Camp, an old pipeline construction camp, is the site of the coldest official temperature ever recorded in the United States: -80° F (-62.2° C) on January 23, 1971. Snag, Yukon Territory holds the record for North America with a reading of -81° F (-62.8° C).

At this spot, northbound travelers get their first look at the fabled Brooks Range, which marks the continental divide separating the Arctic slope from the Yukon River drainage. Peaks in this range can reach over 9,000 feet (2,743 meters) in elevation.

Equipment at Pump Station 5 relieves pipeline pressure by slowing the flow of the oil descending from the Brooks Range. This station is built on a refrigerated foundation that keeps the building’s heat from melting the permafrost below.

Another informational sign said:

The Road North
Truckers-The Kings of The Kamikaze Trail
“Sure it gets a little rough at sixty below. Your brakes freeze to the drums, or you can pop a drive shaft like a piece of candy cane if you’re not kind of tender with the gears. Make a wrong move on a hill, and suddenly you’re driving an eighteen-wheel toboggan. That’s how come some guys call this road the Kamikaze Trail. But it’s the best trucking in the world if you know what you’re doing.”

The discovery of “black gold” on the North Slope forever changed travel to Alaska’s north country. Oil production demanded the efficient, year-round transportation of tons of supplies and equipment. By 1970 the “end of the road” was pushed north to the Yukon River. The final 358 miles of the “Haul Road” were constructed during 1974, in a mere 154 days. This road connecting Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks and the outside world was completed on September 29, 1974. It required 32 million cubic yards of gravel and cost $125 million. Rough by Lower 48 standards, this rocky ribbon of road now called the Dalton Highway is the freight lifeline to North America’s largest oilfield.

Until 1968, Livengood (132 miles south of here) was the end of the road north of Fairbanks. Supplies and equipment required farther north waited for winter ice roads, where fixing potholes meant filling them with water and letting them freeze. Bridges were logs frozen into the river ice. Trucks traveled with bulldozer backups-to pull them up steep hills, through swamps, or back onto the trail after they slipped off.

We passed Connection Rock, which was one of the spots where two sep­a­rate con­struc­tion crew met dur­ing the build­ing of the Dal­ton High­way. The high­way was built in 1974 to allow for the con­struc­tion of the Trans Alas­ka Pipeline and fin­ished in only 5 months.

We continued south and arrived at the Arctic Circle, where our driver placed a red carpet in front of the Arctic Circle sign for the obligatory photos.

We transferred from our van to a 25-passenger coach with comfortable padded seats, footrests, cup holders, mesh storage pockets, and power outlets. They also gave us certificates stating that we had crossed the Arctic Circle.

Arctic Circle to Yukon River

The road continued to be bone-jarring. We continued to drive through boreal forest, high alpine, and rolling tundra. The vastness of Alaska’s wilderness is awe-inspiring.

North of the Yukon River, we encountered a series of steep hills named by truckers in the early years of pipeline construction, including Sand Hill (MP 73), Roller Coaster (MP 75), Mackey Hill (MP 87), and Beaver Slide (MP 110).

The driver pointed out Finger Rock (MP 98), a 40-foot granite formation part of a geologic feature called a tor. Tors are created by weathering, and in this area, the extreme freezing and thawing of the ground pushes the rock into dramatic formations.

When we reached the Yukon River (MP 56), we stopped at the Yukon River Camp for dinner. The pipeline crosses the Yukon River at the camp, and the large gravel pad was used as a materials storage yard during the construction of the bridge over the river. Today, you can find amenities like lodging, food, fuel, and showers.

With a small kitchen, they were unprepared for our large bus. I ordered a bowl of chili, and Lisa got a BLT with fries for $30.90. It took about 30 minutes to get the food, so while we were waiting, we explored the gift shop and a binder with pictures and a recent episode about a bear that had gotten into the restaurant. The binder captured all the significant damage caused by the bear. Afterward, we walked down to the Yukon River and were attacked by a zillion mosquitoes.

The E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge, also known as the Yukon River Bridge or Patton Bridge, was constructed between 1974 and 1975 as part of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. It spanned 2,295 feet and rose approximately 200 feet above the river. It had a wooded deck and a 6 percent grade.

Yukon River to Fairbanks

We did not stop until we reached the Dalton Highway sign (MP 1.1) where we took more pictures. We then drove through Livengood, AK, the Dalton Highway’s official starting point.

We then continued down the Elliot Highway toward Fairbanks but made one more stop at the Wildwood General Store in Joy, AK. Joe and Nancy Carlson were locally famous for raising 23 kids (18 were adopted) at this location. The kids opened a lemonade stand outside their home, hoping to entice passing truckers to stop for a cold drink. Guess what? The truckers stopped! The lemonade stand’s success inspired the Carlsons to open up a trading post from which they sold convenience store items and fuel out of gas cans until they retired. They also operated the Arctic Circle Trading Company, our tour company. Nothing was open, but it had a nice outhouse.

We were exhausted as they drove us the last 60 miles to Fairbanks. It was past midnight, and it had just recently gotten dark. We disembarked at the airport and drove ourselves back to the camper.

Monday, 29 July

Alaska Salmon Bake Dinner

It rained most of the day, and it was cold, so we stayed inside most of the day, resting from the previous long day.

A charter bus took us to the Alaska Salmon Bake Dinner at Pioneer Park at 5:15 in the afternoon. The bus dropped us off at an entryway that took us through a replica mine shaft with displays.

We then stood in line in the rain to get our food. Most of the food was uncovered from the rain or was dripped on by the few 10×10 awnings available. The menu was Alaska Salmon or BBQ Ribs, Potatoes, Corn, Drop Biscuits, Berry Cobbler, Coffee, Tea, or Water.

After we got our food, we were directed to a spacious covered dining facility. However, there were more people than chairs, so we had to play musical chairs to get a place to sit.

The rain made the food cold and less tasty, so we were disappointed in the experience.

Pioneer Park

We had tickets to the Golden Heart Review at 8:15 that evening at the Palace Theater in Pioneer Village. Since we had some time before the show, we walked around Pioneer Park, especially since the rain had stopped.

Pioneer Park is a 44-acre Historical Theme Park with original buildings moved from downtown Fairbanks, museums, shops featuring local artisans, restaurants, and a replicated Gold Rush town. The park featured a carousel, a train ride around the park, mini-golf, disc golf, and boccie ball. The park is home to several museums and the Bear Art Gallery, which showcases local art. The Mining Valley exhibit provides insight into the area’s mining history.

The park is open until 8 pm during the summer, but most stores and restaurants are already closed. We were able to go inside the Harding Car and the Pioneer Museum. President Warren G. Harding rode the Harding Train Car in Alaska in 1923 to drive the Golden Spike for the Alaska Railroad. The Pioneer Museum was similar to a typical county museum, featuring items donated to the Museum by early pioneers and gold seekers. We had a great conversation with the docent, who worked as a trucker during the pipeline construction. She also told us about the Pioneers of Alaska, an active fraternity founded in 1907 in Nome, Alaska, to preserve the state’s early history. She also let us see The Big Stampede Theater, which was closed. Here, the audience views the 15 large paintings by Rusty Heurlin about the Gold Rush while seated on a revolving platform.

Golden Heart Revue

We had conflicting instructions on where to meet our group for the evening show, but since we had been given the tickets earlier, we all made our way to the Palace Theater for the show.

The Golden Heart Revue was an old-school musical-comedy revue that provides a humorous look at Fairbanks’ history and frontier life past and present. They described Fairbanks as having five seasons: winter, spring break-up, construction, freeze-up, and winter. Another section of the show was their fashion show, which saw so many heavy layers added in winter the model could barely move.