May 19, 2013 Sunday

Because of the 4 hours difference, we woke up very early at 5.  Great time for blogging.

 Very nippy this morning.  Both Marcel and I bought an extra sweatshirt.  We had to be on the bus at 9:30 to start our day at the Gold Dredge.  One couple didn't make it on time, so we left them behind. 

Picture of Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge.
Parking lot has electrical outlets for all the vehicle.  Gets -40 F here. 

Our room

 800 miles (1,287 km) of the pipeline with the diameter of 48 inches (122 cm) that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska.  The crude oil pipeline is privately owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

These are called "pigs".   Alyeska means "Great land".
Pigging has been used for many years to clean larger diameter pipelines in the oil industry. Today, however, the use of smaller diameter pigging systems is now increasing in many continuous and batch process plants as plant operators search for increased efficiencies and reduced costs.

We boarded this cute little train to the gold panning.  And it was cold!

Mining dredges were used in Yukon and Alaska from the turn of the century on into the 1950s to extract gold from the land. Several of these old dredges still litter the landscape of the North, one of the most visible reminders of the glory days of the Klondike Gold Rush. 

This type of dredge used a continuous line of buckets (called the digging ladder") to scrape the bottom and edge of the pond. The buckets carried the mud and rock to a screening area, where the heavier metal particles were separated from the rest of the material. After the metal was captured, the waste rock, or tailings, would be deposited out the back.

"There's gold in them thar hills" 

Gold for the little container.  Dry finger to pick it up. 

75,000. piece of gold found

Before our 3 hr riverboat cruise, we had lunch.
All you can eat mess hall!  Stew, cheese soup, buns and chocolate cake.
Three busses full in the group.
So far, we have not met any Canadians. Mostly Americans.     

Riverboat Discovery 111

Demonstration by a bush pilot.  Taking off and landing. 

The sun kept us warm and we were able to stay outdoors.  Scenery was spectacular.  

 A working sled dog breeder's kennel. Getting the Alaskan Huskies ready for the Iditarod.  From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 8 to 20 days.

  A nice, relaxing 3-4 hr tour up the Chena river in Fairbanks, giving you a good overview of life in that area (both historic and today). 

Athabascan showing us how to clean, smoke and dry fish.   

Stopped at the village to learn about the Athabascan Indian Culture. A mock-up of an Athabascan native village, the tour guides (mostly native Alaskan teens who are attending the University of Alaska in Fairbanks) do a great job of providing a thumbnail sketch of their culture. 

Caribou

Riverboat holds 900 people, and has 20 paddles turned by hydraulic motors.    

Salmon drying

The Iron Dog
Named by villagers when the first snowmobile came to Alaska.

Found this little cabin just for you, Leonard and Mary. 

Furs hanging on a food cache.  
 A small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food,

Made from caribou skins.  Notice the 4 layers of clothing! 

Snowmobile

Mary and Leonard's neighbors.

End of the river.  Mountains in the back.  

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk, fish eagle or fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upper-parts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings.

Marcel saw him fly with this big fish in his beak, and land.  

Colors on this osprey can be seen clearly.

Couldn't resist putting one more picture of a flying osprey. 

Don't know what these little ducks are called.  Love the way they take off walking on the water.

The short road where the hotel is on ends here.
When the river freezer, the road continues until a few cars don't make it all the way across in the spring.  Then the road is blocked by huge piles of snow.

Back at the hotel by 5.  Then off to bed at 9.  
Well, me anyway, Marcel was sleeping for 2 hours already.  
Love to you all
Marcel and Alida/mom and dad/grandpa and grandma