Our last day was spent in Fairbanks. We did not see much of this city. We arrived at about 11:30 and had lunch on our own before we were to board a large paddle boat.
The riverboat trip was great. There were many beautiful homes along the river, very large homes. That surprised me given that the winter temperatures often hover at -20 to -50 below, and worse. I would think smaller homes would be easier and less expensive to heat.
At a couple of sites along the river, demonstrations were provided. A bush plane took off and landed twice, alongside the boat to show us that they need very little 'runway' to take off and land. One of every six people in Alaska have pilot licenses, they really rely on the planes for survival.
We were taken by the home and kennel site of Susan Butcher, the 4time iditarod champ. They have 140 dogs they train. They hooked up a team of dogs in front of an ATV, and the dogs took off at an amazing speed.
We also had a stop at a simulated village of the types of homes the Alaskan native tribes lived in. There clothing, all beautifully done in several different types of fur and bead work. How they fished and smoked fish. All very interesting.
The riverboat company, of course, had a huge gift store. And we bought earrings.
We did not get to our hotel until close to 6:00, we were tired.
The vacation was wonderful, despite a few disappointments. I would like to return to Alaska again. Probably go on a cruise again but arrange to spend more time on land and not cover as many towns as we did.
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