May 24, "Old World Alaska?"

The view driving north on the Alaska Highway towards Fairbanks.

About half way to Fairbanks is the small town of Delta Junction.  This is where the Alaska Highways, almost 1,400 miles,  ends.  We went into the Visitor's Center and was talking to the women giving information of the area.  In our conversation, we found out that she use to live near Green Bay.  It's amazing how most people you talk to.... usually have "something" in common.

We heard mosquitoes grow big here in Alaska;  but not that big!  These little pests are one reason we decided to go to Alaska in May-June.  After that these guys swarm and so do the biting flies.  It's still cool enough now,  so they aren't a problem yet.

So calm and peaceful.

There really is a town called North Pole.  It's just south of Fairbanks on Highway 2.  This store called Santa Claus House has sent out over two million Santa letters since 1952, with the postmark from the North Pole.  Santa was there; but I didn't have the nerve to sit on his lap and have my picture taken.
 So I bought the grandkids t-shirts.

In Fairbanks there is a place called Pioneer Park (even though Bill called it Old World Alaska).  It was a little town that showed the history of Fairbanks and the area.  With Fairbanks being a gold rush boom town at one time, it had lots of memorabilia  that revolved around that era.  Love the dog sleeping on the table. :-)

  They have a great aircraft museum at Pioneer Park.  Airplanes have played a major role in taming Alaska...a little bit.  Today in Alaska there are so many places that are hard to reach unless you have access to an airplane.  Even Juneau, the capital of Alaska,  doesn't have outside roads that lead to it.  They say that 30% of the population in Alaska have their pilot's license.

Saw this on the way to Denali.  All those little houses in the center and left of the picture are dog houses.  These dogs are for dog sledding.  Dog sledding is a very popular sport in Alaska;  but for some...a necessity for travel in remote places.

Moose count today was 4.

Our day ends in Denali with 7 more minutes of light than there was yesterday.  That may not sound like much; but when you can still read a book without a light near midnight...my brain can't understand it.   Blankets had to go over the bedroom windows so I could go to sleep at a reasonable hour.