Monday, July 6^th

Fairbanks, AK

• In 1915 the record high temperature in Alaska was 100F at Fort Yukon. I think we came close to beating that today. Walking home from dinner at 8:00pm, it was 92F.

After a light breakfast in the hotel lobby, we head off to the airport once again. Today it’s Juneau to Anchorage, Anchorage to Fairbanks, and the start of our actual tour. On the flight into Fairbanks, we passed Mt. McKinley, unadorned with clouds – what a beautiful sight!

We’re staying at The River Front Resort, right along a..., you guessed it, river - the Chena River, to be precise. There are about 80 rooms that are actually individual cottages, most with their own little patio overlooking the water, including ours.

Alaska-0878Individual rooms along the river

Every couple of minutes a few kayaks or rafts loaded with kids or coolers lazily drift by, powered solely by the current or a few light paddle strokes. What a great way to cool off on a hot day! Earlier, there was a river otter that poked its head up and munched on the grass along the riverbank.

Alaska-0883Cooling off on a hot afternoon. Lazin' on a sunny afternoon

Alaska-0907 Those are fold-up bikes tied on to the front

As we were walking into town for dinner, a young girl sitting on a low brick wall who identified herself as Brit, asked us what we were looking for. When we told her dinner, she said “Go to Brewster’s, Nick should be working the bar tonight”. When we got there, Nick was working and had no clue who Brit was, but the food was good and beer was cold.

Tomorrow, we get on board the train and head for Denali.