Before leaving Fairbanks we were tourist's. 6-21-2010

This was our site in Fairbanks.. You would never know there was a main road right through the trees behind us!

Can you believe this house? I would take it!

On second thought I would rather have this one..

I was able to actually touch a Grizzly Bear....... pelt! :-D

The Riverboat Discovery

Before leaving Fairbanks and heading to Denali National Park we were tourist's and bought into one of the "don't miss" attractions. We went on a 3.5 hr stern wheel paddle boat, The Riverboat Discovery. We traveled approximately 4 miles one way on the Chena (Ch-ee-na) River before we turned around. The river moved pretty fast but as far as looks, because it is glacier fed it has the look of chocolate milk. Don't get me wrong you all know I love chocolate but not in a river. I am partial to the crystal clear waters of the rivers that are fed by snow melt. Anyway, back to the boat ride. The most surprising aspect of this trip for me was the size of the houses that lined the river. They were huge! Some were beautiful log style homes, the kind you imagine in Alaska while others looked like they could have been anywhere. Along the way little kids kept coming out to the edge of their yards and waving like crazy. One little girl kept yelling HI...... HI.....HI This boat makes this trip twice a day you would think the residence would get to the point where they didn't even pay attention to it any longer. I guess not! Our first of 2 stops was at the home of a famous dog musher, Susan Butcher. Susan Butcher won several Iditarod's before died of leukemia somewhere around age 45. Opening doors for other women in this field where it was dominated mostly by men. We could not get off the boat here but were able to see the dogs and listen to the husband of Susan Butcher. He still raises and trains the dogs, in fact he had a team hitched up to a quad. He had removed the engine so the dogs could pull it during the summer months when there was no snow to run on. As soon as the dogs realized it was time to run they started going crazy, jumping, pulling against the harness and yipping. You could tell they love it. He took them for a run and it was amazing how fast they could pull that quad. When they got back to where they started the dogs were unhitched and headed straight for the river where they frolicked and drank. I am going to have to watch the Iditarod next time it is being televised. Did you know they don't actually use husky's, I didn't! After we got to see the dogs run and they teased us with some cute little puppies, that we could not touch (that was not fair, :-D ), we were on our way to our second and last stop, an old Chena Indian Village. Here we were able to disembark for a guided tour. There were 3 Alaskan Natives kids there to share their culture with us. The 3 young adults were all college bound students that had actually been raised in the type of buildings we were seeing. (At least that's what they told us). We were able to see some of the traditional clothes that were made by the early Indians and touch the pelts of the animals used for those clothes. After the tour we had 20 minutes to walk around and experience the village at our own pace or go behind the village where Mr. Butcher's daughter had some of their dogs. That is where we headed. The dogs would meander by the fence stopping at an outstretched hand. It is no surprise that was the best part of the trip for me, other than seeing the puppies....