July 6 – We arrived at Rivers Edge RV Park and Campground today. We happily set everything up as we will be staying here for 5 nights! That means all I have to drive is the jeep. It’s not that it’s hard to drive the RV. It’s just stressful. I am happy to be having some R&R. Sean is just happy to not have to continually move and Brian is happy he gets to sleep in. Nana, is always flexible and rolls with the flow of moving around. We have been very lucky on this trip and this campground was no different. We received a very level, gravel site with 50amp FHU. Even the Wifi worked well. I would have to say my only negative about this location is that the spaces are very close together. Thankfully the sites are on an angle. I would hate to have to pull a 90 to get in here. If you are here on Wednesday evenings you will get a chance to see a classic car show onsite. We used this campground as our base to get around to all the sites near Fairbanks.
July 6 – Our first place we visited we actually passed on the way to the Campground. We visited North Pole, AK. Santa was away but we did get to visit the Santa Claus House and picked up a few new ornaments for our tree this year. They had some cute t-shirts that we picked up for the boys as well. We didn’t spend too much time here as it’s a pretty small town. We had hoped to drop off some mail so it cold be stamped with North Pole, but we didn’t think ahead and we don’t want to drive an hour back just to drop off a letter.
Ice Museum
July 7 – Today was the day we went to Chena Hot Springs. I had planned on taking the kids into the springs but the weather didn’t cooperate at all. It was overcast with occasional rain showers. There is a portion that is enclosed but I opted to just skip it. We did enjoy seeing 5 moose on the ride to the springs. The nice thing about the hot springs is that they have a lot of activities that you can do. We opted to visit the ice museum. They provide jackets as they keep it 20 degrees and I have to say it is very chilly. The tour guide gave us lots of information about the couple who do the ice carvings and if you don’t mind paying $15.00 you can get a margarita in an ice glass. You can also go horse back riding, have a tour of the resorts gardens and their thermal power plant.
We decided to return home and visit The Great Alaskan Bowl 
Company. We all enjoyed looking at all the different shapes and sizes. We were really amazed at the sets of family bowls. Was interesting to see the size of the starter pieces they used for the family bowl sets. They also have windows so you can see them making the bowls. Call and find out when they will be working on the bowls as we missed this part. The boys were very excited to be able to pick out a small bowl of their own. I figure when they grow up and move out of the house the bowls will be great to use for keys so it will be good for a lasting memory.
Nana has gold fever!
July 8 – Today was a day we set up just for the boys. Last year they had so much fun “panning” for stones that we knew they would enjoy Gold Dredge 8. I didn’t tell them much about the trip ahead of time. They were surprised to see that we were going to take a train to the dredge. While on the train we got to learn about the gold rush in the area and how they mined for the gold. Our favorite was learning about how they actually mined for pay dirt in the winter. Later they used dredges to reach the gold. I do have to say that they know tourists pretty darn well. After the tour we went to a covered area with pans and warm water. We each received our own poke (bag with pay dirt) and we all set off to find our gold. Nana was a bit hesitant as she didn’t want to lose any gold. The boys and I dug in and quickly found our gold. I only had 4 flakes so mine was split between the two. Brian found $37 worth of gold and Sean found $34. They were both pretty happy with their finds.
Arctic Circle Crossing
July 9 – On today’s schedule was a drive up to the Arctic Circle. Once we realized that it would be 5 hours to get there and 5 hours to get back, we quickly changed plans and decided to wing it there instead. We booked with Northern Alaska Tour Company. They provide a variety of different tour options. We decided to do the 5 hour arctic circle air adventure. After getting our bags weighed we climbed aboard 9 passenger plane and flew just over an hour to Coldfoot, AK. We then drove 30 minutes to the town of Wiseman where we listened to a long time resident who spoke about how they survive in such a harsh climate. The kids really enjoyed the flight. Brian truly loved it. Probably due to being the lucky one who got to sit next to the pilot. We all received certificates for crossing over the arctic circle.
Riverboat Discovery
July 10 – Our last day in Fairbanks. We embarked on the Riverboat Discovery. The boys enjoyed seeing a bush pilot take off and land on the river and they got to view Susan Butcher’s kennel all while aboard a working paddleboat. They have a commentator onboard who kept everyone entertained. The last portion of the trip was Nana’s favorite. We stopped in a replica native village where we got to see how they use a fish wheel to catch fish, heard a lot about native life both past and current and finally got to pet a few retired sled dogs through a fence while the guide answered questions.
Tomorrow we are off to Denali National Park & Preserve.
Take care Y’all
