Denali National Park - Chena Hot Springs - Ice Museum

DENALI  NATIONAL  PARK  AND  RESERVE

Mt. McKinley the highest mountain in North America (20,320 feet)
This is what we came to the park to see today!!!

 Mt. McKinley was named by a gold prospector for William McKinley, when he was running for president, because McKinley was in support of  keeping the United States on the gold standard.  The Alaskans have begun calling it Denali so in 1975 they tried to get the name officially changed but when it came up for a vote by U.S. congressmen the Ohio delegation lobbied to keep it Mt. McKinley, as President McKinley was from Ohio.  It is still referred to as Mount Denali though by many locals.  (Denali National Park is about a 2-hour drive from Fairbanks.)

Since the weather conditions were like this

seeing the mountain was out of the question.

but we saw lots of wildlife, including this BEAR.

Denali National Park and Reserve encompases six million acres of virtually undisturbed geography.  The most commonly seen wildlife in the park are moose, caribou, wolves, arctic squirrels, bear, Dall sheep, lynx and Willow Ptarmigan (the state bird of Alaska).  Arctic squirrels are the only mammals that hibernate with a body temperature below 32 degrees.  While on this ten-hour bus ride through the park - hoping to see Mt. McKinley at some point remember - we saw all but a wolf and a lynx.

We're riding 10 hours on this bus.  YIKES!  Lots of TB. 

The beautiful Nenana River that is the eastern boundary for the Park.

Chena Hot Springs

This is one of the out buildings at the hot springs - the sign says Massage Therapy.
Aren't those flower baskets the biggest and most beautiful you've ever seen?
Also notice the thatched roof!

In addition to these facilities the hot springs (which is about one hour from Fairbanks) has a hotel, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a large hall which people use for special occasions, a huge green house in which all the flower baskets around the grounds are nurtured and grown plus most of the vegetables served in the restaurant, a playground area for children, a barbeque area with a barbeque built into a replica of a dragon,

 and the "world's largest year round ice museum."

Igloo inside museum - you can walk inside and experience the excellent acoustics.
They have provided a xylophone for that purpose.
Also, you can see they provide heavy coats as the temperature is kept at 25 degrees at all times.

Sonnary (in her bare legs and flip flops)
in the room with a fireplace (no heat), tables, stools, lamps, etc.
The stools are covered with caribou hide so they don't feel cold when you sit on them.

This is a bed - with a bear head, four posters, and covered with caribou hide.

This ice museum currently has three bedrooms (one with bunkbeds) and is constructing one more.  People actually ask to sleep in these rooms overnight.  (Remember everything is made of ice - including the waste baskets.)  They have rooms at the hotel, just in case, but mainly because there are no bathroom facilities inside the museum.

There is also a bar and a chapel in the ice museum.  At the bar you can be served an appletini in a glass that is made of ice and in the chapel couples actually get married.  Word is that the length of the ceremony is in direct proportion to the amount of skin covered by the bride's dress.

There is another ice museum in downtown Fairbanks, in which these pictures were taken.

Dog Sled Team

Koen and Mason as Ice Eskimoes

The highlight of this museum was the film they show about how the ice used in these ice carvings is removed from the lake in huge chunks (5' x '8' x 3').  One of the most prominent ice sculpting competitions is held in Fairbanks in March of each year.  For the single block category they work in teams of two and are given 60 hours to complete their entry.  For multi-block they work in teams of four and are given 10 blocks of ice and 132 hours to complete their entry.  The results can be spectacular.

Santa Claus House and Pioneer Park

Just to be absolutely clear - this is NOT THE North Pole, which is about 1,700 miles north of Fairbanks.

This is the town of North Pole which is about 15 miles from Fairbanks, 

has a population of approximately 2,000 people and 

has a Christmas theme year round.  The street lights look like candy canes and

Santa Clause lives here - at Santa Claus House (below).

Santa Claus in casual attire with Mason's children (Kyja, Kade and Koen)
Remember this is mid-July!

Kade, Kyja, Koen and ME

Address:  101 St. Nicholas Road

North Pole, AK  99705

(Any time you would like to have children receive something post marked from the North Pole you can send it to that address and they will post mark it and send it on to the children.)

Pioneer Park is a reconstruction of downtown Fairbanks in the late 1800's/early 1900's.

They have moved the actual houses to this setting and created a tourist attraction.

Most of the houses are occupied by retail shops selling goods made locally.

Of course, there is a museum (actually two - one for the natives and one for the white settlers), a train that takes visitors around the property, and a replica of the gold mining operations that were the reason for

the original Fairbanks settlement.

Native totem pole

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My son MASON's family - All together
Sonnary (wife), Kyja (daughter), Kade (son ), MASON, Koen (son)

Fairbanks, Alaska

WELCOME to the Fairbanks Airport

Fairbanks, Alaska, is a town of about 32,000 people.  It is less than 120 miles from the Arctic Circle.   Fairbanks' winter lasts from late September/early October until late April/early May.  On average, the season's first snow falls in Fairbanks on September 21 and the first inch of snow accumulates by October 8. The snowpack is established by October 18, on average, and remains until May.

Fairbanks from October to May

My son, Mason, and ME in front of Discovery III
(a paddle wheeler) on the Chena River.

Susan Butcher's dog training center for sled dogs.
Her teams won the Iditarod four years (1986, 1987, 1988, 1990).
Her husband Dave Monson is continuing the training since
her death in 2006.

Granite was lead dog on three of the winning teams.
More than any other sled dog in history.

Where the Chena River runs into the Tanana River

there is a reconstruction of an ATHABASCAN INDIAN VILLAGE.

Villages similar to this appeared along the rivers after steamboat captains began bringing

prospectors in search of gold in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  They continued to thrive

from the late 1930's through the 1950's.

Reindeer:  domesticated caribou.

Early dwellings of Athabascan Indians.

Cache: a place for storing supplies and for hanging kills and furs.
Those are dog houses on the ground.  They maintained upwards of 60 dogs
per village so had to make provisions for them too.

How many votes do I get for looking like Judi Dench?

A lady sitting next to me on the plane said:  "Gasp!!!  Has anyone ever told you 

that you look just like Judi Dench?

(Maybe I should have looked for a better picture of me - yes? 
Or a not so good picture of Ms. Dench?)

Last of Montana (for awhile)

I'm taking off for Alaska tomorrow, so needed to make sure Montana is complete.

Today was my Sister's 80th birthday party.

Kerri (daughter-in-law), Greg (son), My Sister - DIONE, Mark (son), Holli (daughter), Frank (son-in-law)

Here I am AGAIN, and Dione

Just had to add a few more cabin pictures:

Is this not the most beautiful willow tree you have ever seen?

and the most wonderful flower garden that I planted that provided the deer with a salad buffet?

Tracie and Thomas Freni with Jake at Mike's Cabin

She is the oldest daughter of my sister Glenda who passed in 2010.

And finally, a real Montana treasure:

 Look, you can stop for a cup of coffee or espresso, buy a gift of jewelry, agate if you wish, and a card to go with the gift, as well as night crawlers and flies.  (That would be for you fishermen in the group.)  Now that's what they call one stop shopping.