Bear Lodge Fairbanks

... ok, ok, let&#8217;s just leave and head back to the park.<br><br>The next day back at Savage Camp Natalie, Dan, and Val wanted to take a bus ride out into the park. Dave didn&#8217;t want to ride the bus so he stayed back at camp with me. The day turned out to be nasty with fog and rain predominant, but our intrepid group made the best of it. They saw some animals, and the color in the park this time of year is beautiful. The highlight was a pair of bears found busy ...

... and landing from a riverbank strip. Further along, the boat stopped at Trail Breaker Kennels. They are run by David Monson, widower of the late Susan Butcher, four-time Iditarod champion. Here, we heard a lively lecture and saw a demonstration of mushing training 2009-style - the dogs were hitched to an ATV!<br><br><br><br>We viewed the wedding of the clear Chena River with the silty Tanana River, then the sternwheeler turned around on the Tanana ...

... Champion, Susan Butcher's, home and sled dog kennel (Susan lost her life to lukemia a couple of years ago). A bush pilot did a demonstration and we took a tour of a Chena Indian Village. We are within walking distance to Pioneer Park. We will go there tomorrow. I will put on more pictures and try to tell more about the pictures I sent yesterday. More later.

... for seat belts)! After the second time, we just figured if must be a a new Disney ride! We were all glad to arrive safely to friends and family. We were also very glad to arrive to 45-degree temperatures above zero instead of the below-zero weather in which we had departed. For the next week or so, we will be catching-up on sleep and re-adjusting our body clocks to our home time zone and climate. We will also be completing our webpage with ...

... of Moose on the side of the road. We went to a cute store call the Knotty Pine Shop in Sascha . WE enjoyed looking around. WE had such a great day but we were ready to get back to our home in Texas. It was our last day in Fairbanks and we did not want to miss anything. Sunday we fly home. It took us quite a while to get everything ready for our departure. We had a late checkout at the hotel ...

... While there I talked to several Republicans who will vote for Begich and Obama. To my surprise Begich and Stevens are tied in the latest polls and McCain only leads Obama by a few points. It is a year of change if Democrats can win in Alaska. So after some good conversation and good food it was time to head back. The evening was so sunny, that I finally took my chair out and read for several hours by the lake as Pooh watched some Hindi movie on the computer.

... Alaska Museum at the University of Alaska. Beautiful campus and great museum. Lots of exhibits of native Alaskan culture etc. See pictures.. After the museum, we headed back to Gary's place where he started dinner and I rode around on his quad. Alex got connected and disappeared for a while. Dinner consisted of BBQ wild coho salmon, sausages, veggies and Crown:) It was a great day for a break. First day off the bike in eight.

... and to suddenly hear a guy (who you assumed was simply going to the loo) start giggling frantically and calling our names, inviting us to come and watch what he's doing? Concerned doesn't even come close to how we felt, but all was ok, he just wanted to shoot the ceiling with his bidet! Incidentally, although in appearance, Steve may have seemed a little less than desirable he was in fact a dude! He sorted us out with lots of advice, let us ...

... lounging around their tents with their laptops. I see a new laptop in our future.... He was changing the oil on his bike tonight while guarding the entrance to his tent. There were a couple of beautiful ducks trying to get in or poop at the entrance. Nick and **************ed to a poetry ...

Driving from the airport we drove through an underpass with a yellow heart on the side of the road. This heart stood for the center heart of Alaska. We headed for the univ. of Alaska, which was in Fairbanks. Inside there was a history of Alaska museum. After that , we walked the lodge of Fairbanks. It was right on the river. While touring and inspecting the lodge I ran across a photographer by the name of Michio Hoshino. This photographer's works inspired me to take ...