Wednesday, June 30, 1999

We started today a little earlier than we have lately.  We woke up to a beautiful morning again.  We have just been absolutely blessed with beautiful weather.  The three of us were heading out for a trip on Discovery III.  This is the paddleboat that takes about 900 people out.  The Binkley family has been operating paddleboats on the river here for 101 years.  They have a first class operation.  We arrived at the little frontier town about 8:00 a.m.  Before long the buses were rolling in and the cruise line folks were lining up.  This is one of their major attractions.  It's pretty nice being on our own time this round.

We rented a Ford Explorer last evening that will be enjoyable.  We'll turn it in in Anchorage next Thursday.  Rus and I laughed.... we don't travel this nicely at home!

This village has a tribute to Susan Butcher.  She has won the Iditarod three years in a row.  She's a renown athlete in this part of the world.  Her husband is a musher as well.  They now have a five year old daughter.  We passed their home and grounds and Susan came out and told us a lot about training the dogs.  They have over 100 of them now and we saw many as we went by.  Her husband, David Monson, talked with us at the Chena River Village.  He had a team of seven dogs with him and did a demonstration.  At the village we also saw Dixie Alexander.  She is a native Alaskan famous for her bead and hide sewing work.  She also told us about living in a fish camp in the summer and how they preserve the salmon.   Everything was just so interesting.  We turned from the Chena River into the Tenana River and saw how the two rivers boiled and rolled as they merged.  One is a gray glacier fed river full of fine silt and meets with the other clear river.  It's fascinating to watch.  

The village is full of restored buildings and displays that show life as it has been in this area. The environment can be pretty harsh and these folks sure learned how to manage.  Stacey is standing in front of a moose hide with a brown bear to her left.  The gal in the middle is wearing one of Dixie's hand made parkas.  The materials alone are worth $4000 before she begins.  It would sell for somewhere in the area of $13,000 - $14,000.  It was just beautiful.  

The boat has an announcer that once owned the first FM station up here.  He narrates the trip and a video system of what he's talking about from the sides of the boat makes it enjoyable from any place in the boat.  It was a pretty nice set up.  We were parked up on the top deck  on the outside.  Had the best seats in the house for us!

Back at the visitor center the buses were lined up waiting for their loads.  It was amazing how fast they did get that many people in and out and you never really felt crowed out (except in the gift shop).  We took our picture in there with Susan's sled and then were on our way.

We did a grocery run to Sam's and the Fred Myer's (the Wal-Mart type store).  Rus and Stacey and I will be heading north early in the morning so we will be loading up tonight.   We're real excited about going.  We're planning to go all the way to Prudhoe and the Arctic Ocean.  We'll be back sometime Saturday and then leaving Fairbanks on Sunday for Denali.

Stacey and I went for a bike ride to the University for a couple hours this afternoon.  It was a nice little ride.  The campus itself is pretty hilly but other than that it's not to bad.  The hill coming out to the house is a challenge to get up without having to walk the bike.  Stacey is still working on that.  

Tonight was pizza and salad and homemade ice cream.  Perfect for summer fun!