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. 

Odds and Ends

I seem to have overlooked a few things from previous posts, starting with my nephew Greg Smith's 54th birthday on June 15th.


Greg and his Family

Son Isaac, Step-son Beau-holding Daisy, Wife Kerri, GREG, and son Rainer-holding George 



Cousin - Robin Cadby Sorenson -holding Kate

Nancy Day, Sam Studiner, ME, Karen Melius, Mary Jo MacIntyre

 These women have been my friends since the late 50's, early 60's, when we were all having our babies.  There are two missing - Jeannie Michael and Connie Studer who both passed in the last two years.

 Cabin (with deer in the yard) that was built by my father and grandfather in 1960.  It is now owned by my nieces and nephews.  It is 3 cabins down river from the one owned by my son Mike, where I am currently living.

 View of Mike's cabin from the backside. 

You just have to love this!!!!

Football field for the Absarokee Huskies High School Team.

PLEASE notice the cattle behind the stands.

Another very old, and very dear friend

Al  Littler







Here is My Current Neighborhood

Thought you might enjoy a quick look around - starting with my home town of Billings, Montana.  (As I've already said, the biggest city in Montana with a population of 150,000.)

Driving from Billings to the cabin takes me through the little towns of Laurel (Pop.6,814), Park City (Pop. 870), Columbus (Pop. 1,896), and Absarokee (Pop. 1,200).   

Montana's Big Sky through my windshield

Sites around the cabin:

Beehive Community Center

Local Resort

Friendliest of all Neighbors

Neighboring Community:

Nye Post Office that has VERY irregular hours.

It's a short 33 miles to the town or Red Lodge, Montana (Pop. 2,114), local ski resort and gateway to the Cooke City Highway which takes you to Silver Gate, Montana, one of the entrances to Yellowstone Park.  The scenery between Absarokee and Red Lodge is some of the most beautiful I've seen.

Red Lodge, Montana

Heading back to Billings from Red Lodge are a couple more small towns:  Roberts (Pop. 1,176) and Joliet (Pop. 593).  The Billings to cabin (about 60 miles) to Red Lodge (33 miles)  to Billings (about 60 miles) Triangle is pretty much my area of activity.  And a most enjoyable one at that.

Working on this blog in the Nye Bar - adjacent to the Nye Post Office.

Only place I have found that has WiFi with a place to actually sit down and plug in.

Two Meetings and a Funeral

Meeting Number One - with very old (since my high school days), very dear friends  Before we moved away from Billings Nancy and I were at the least on the phone every day, and we saw each other as couples almost every weekend.

Nancy and Ruben Day

Meeting Number Two - I attended a meeting of the Golden (over 55 years of age) K Kiwanis Cub as a guest of my sister.  Now this is my kind of meeting.  It opened with a rousing version of the song Montana  --

Montana, Montana glory of the west

Of all the states from coast to coast you're easily the best

Montana, Montana where skies are always blue

M - O - N - T - A - N - A, Montana I love you

followed by the pledge of allegiance, then a short prayer, then singing of God Bless America, then introductions of guests (That would be ME), then announcements, then safe driving tips, at the conclusion of which they all said in unison, "Safety on the highway depends on you and me.  Drive Defensively," then a guest speaker and all done!!!!

 

My 93-year-old uncle, Ralph Shirley, who I introduced you to in my blog of February 27th, died on

 June 4th. His funeral was yesterday, which means I have more relatives for you to meet.

Uncle Ning

 

His two Children (My Cousins) Suzie and Jack

Jack's children (Rose and Forrest) and grandchildren live in Hawaii and were unable to attend.

Suzie's Family

(Front) Suzie Zimmerman, Granddaughters Payton and Marin, Daughter Angie

Son-in-Law, Daughter Shawna, Husband Bill, Son-in-Law

(Sorry I don't know the names of the In-Laws.  I'll work on that one.)

Cousin Gary Dahl's Family

Son John, Gary, Wife Bonnie, Daughter Cheryl

He has another son and daughter who were not able to attend.

Welcome to MONTANA

Meet my Chauffer -

Kerri Smith (wife of my nephew Greg)

Kerri flew to Arizona to help me drive to Montana - except she ended up doing 90% of the driving.  It was certainly wonderful for me and great to have the company.  We drove from Arizona through Nevada, Utah, and Idaho ending in Montana.  (Again covering 5 states but this time it took 21 hours - as compared to the 5 states in the east that took only 2.5 hours.)

Montana's beautiful mountains to greet me!

Between Butte and Bozeman, Montana

Montana Family that I will be visiting while here

My sister Dione, her daughter Holli,  Holli's daughter Kira and her fiancee Luke.

 Back row is Holli's son Jeremy, son Cameron, and husband Frank.

Nephew Greg's sons - Rainer and Isaac (Parents not available at time of this picture.)

Yellowstone River, between Billings and Columbus, Montana

My son Mike's cabin - where I will be for the next 6 weeks.

 The cabin is about 15 miles from Absarokee, a town of about 1,200 people (and another 60 miles from Billings which is the biggest city in Montana - population 150,000)  In Absarokee there are no stop lights, one grocery store, one motel, one cafe, two churches and two bars.  At the cabin there is no television, no internet, and no cell phone reception, but there is a land line - 406-328-4969.
But this is my favoritist part of all - The Stillwater River that runs just feet from the back of the cabin:

 

Washington, D.C. and New York City with Pennsylvania in Between

I had the distinct honor of getting to see my granddaughter, TENAYA  MICHELLE  CAMPBELL, graduate from Georgetown University, Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in French.  (She plans to spend the summer in France and return to Los Angeles to start her job with a talent agency in the fall.)

Georgetown University was the first Catholic university in the United States.  It was started by John Carroll, a Jesuit Priest, in 1789.  The graduation ceremony took place in front of Healy Hall which is the flagship building for the University.  It was built in 1877 when Patrick F. Healy, SJ, (Society of Jesus) was president of the university.  He was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. and the first to head a major university. 

 

Healy Hall

The night before graduation was a "Senior Ball" held at Union Station for all the graduating seniors and their families.

 

(Brother) Jonah, Tenaya, (Mom) Diane, (Dad) Mike

While in Washington, D.C., we ate at Tenaya's favorite restaurants:  Il Canale (Italian), Bistrot Du Coin (French), and The Tombs (American) - where Tenaya will have her name permanently inscribed on a plaque of students graduating in 2013 who came to The Tombs each and every day for the 99 days preceding graduation.  Yea Tenaya!!!!

I was also able to take the night tour of the monuments which included Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, MLK,  Iwo Jima, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam plus the Capitol and the White House.  I think the most spectacular is World War II - especially at night.

Then it was on to Philadelphia.  I rode with the Mike Campbell family as we went from D.C. through Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware to Pennsylvania.  (That took about 2.5 hours.  We in the west think of going from state to state to take much more time than that, don't we?.)   Now it was time for getting acquainted with the school Jonah will be attending this fall - University of Pennsylvania (Penn), which was the first university in the United States, started by Benjamin Franklin in 1740.  Penn is in the Ivy League and Jonah will be a member of their baseball team.

I was met in Philly by my sister, Dione Smith, and her son Mark and his wife Chrysa.  I stayed with them in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on the way to and coming back from New York City.  Doylestown may have been the highlight of the trip for me.  The countryside is so lush, everything so green, big beautiful trees everywhere.  It is a very small town, population 8,380, but four very famous people have lived there:  Pearl Buck (1892-1973), Margaret Mead (1901-1978), Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960), and James Mitchner (1907-1997).  Another interesting fact is that for the first time ever I saw a road sign which read:  Beware Aggressive Drivers.  What does one do with that kind of advice?

Home of Pearl Buck

Home of Margaret Mead

Mark Smith, (son) Dane, (wife) Chrysa

 From Doylestown I rode with the Smith family (from Pennsylvania through New Jersey) to New York City.  After checking into our Hotel ($300/night with a bathroom so small it fit only one person at a time) we met again with the Mike Campbells for dinner at Lattanzi Restaurant (Italian).   (I know this is a terrible picture but it proves that my iPhone 5 can do that scanning thing.  There are 4 Smiths, 4 Campbells and 1 friend of the Campbells in this picture.  What are the odds that we would all be in NYC at the same time?)

 Then it was on to Broadway for my sister and me, to see the "Book of Mormon."  It was delightful, beautiful music, wonderful dancing, clever story line, and very raunchy.  (A little too coarse for my taste.)  The next day Dione and I continued with the touristy things:  bus tour through streets of New York City, boat tour around the city, followed by a bicycle tour (someone else pushing the peddles) through Central Park.

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero

Statue of Liberty on a foggy day

Fountain in Central Park

Dione and Me in Central Park