The Great Flood

For those that believe there is balance in life, here is your proof. After a few hours at the Ice Park, we came home to a flooded house. Nothing major ruined, yet. Although the water was leaking straight onto the treadmill so we shall see if it will survive. A wet carpet, some damaged light fixtures, and some painting will need to occur. We are still confused as well as the fire department and maintenance crew why this happened since there is no noticed leaks. I think it was the ghosts... Well, it could happen according to Kelly's Ghost Hunting books and television shows. !)

The North Pole Ice Park

Open for only a few more days, the family explored the North Pole Ice park. There were multiple sculptures as well as a few Ice Slides which the kids loved.

-32 and Dropping

Yesterday it was -32 degrees which shuts down only a little in Fairbanks. That little being school recess and the ski hill. I have found that wearing the right clothes for me is not the issue, but convincing the kids that they need to cover thier face and stop taking off the gloves has been a problem. At times I have resorted to athletic tape to force them to leave the mittins on which is not the greatest of ideas. CJ wants to make a snowman but unfortunately the snow is too dry, almost like sand without the weight. We have yet to go tubing on the slopes and have setteled for just some sledding around the neighborhood. Have a happy holliday season and stay warm!

Driving South to the North Pole

'Tis the season and so the wife and kids went to Santa's House at the North Pole. Unfortunately he was not home but they did get to see some Reindeer and the big guy's sleigh. There is the begginings of a Ice Park and one of the first pieces is a Ice sculpture of a Turkey. More to follow as this place comes more alive with creativity. -BECK

Skiing Opens

With Birch Hill now open it will only be a matter of time when Colin and I start Snowboarding lessons. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot of snow so the hill is a little thin. I did embark on a snow shoeing trek the other day which was interesting and I plan on doing more trips in the near future. The boss has a snow machine aka snowmobile but there still is a shortage of snow to really get out there and play in the powder.

2nd Real Snow Fall

We finally had some real snow come to Fairbanks. If the weatherman is right we should have 6" over the last two days. If you look at the railing it looks about right. We had to pick up a shovel today but I will admit the snow blowers looked real tempting. Next it will be the sleds and snowboards for the kids as well as some studded running shoes!!!

First Snow

Well this morning I woke up a little late and to my surprise there was Snow on the ground. We had been hearing about it for some time but not even a dusting until today. Kelly thinks it's because I finally finished installing my Auto Start, but I think it is because we finally picked up some decent boots, hats, and gloves for the kids. Speaking of which, they enjoyed belly sliding and tossing snow balls around. Kelly is off now trying to track down a sled and all those other things we forgot about. Good times! Hopefully this doesn't slow down my run schedule...

Be Prepared for the Frost Bite!

Well this morning I went for a run and didn't quite make it the four plus miles I normally run. I forgot how 30degree weather effects the body. Well anyways, it was a good 3 mile run... So the deal around here is Auto Start and winterization. Both of the cars were winterized last month and Kelly's Truck had auto start installed a few days ago. My package came in last week. I figured after installing the radio and speakers and auto start would be pretty simple. Well, it is day three and everything works but the auto start... Lucky for me work is only 10 min away!

-B

Fall has Hit

Well this past week you could say fall has hit Faribanks. Yesterday I went outside to shuffle the cars around and the puddles were frozen over. Although it got up to the mid 40's we started the day at 26. Time to go shopping for them real winter clothes at Big Ray's Outfitters. But not today! We finally have Sunday Ticket hooked up and we are going to watch our favorite team try and get above .500!

Settled in

Well we finally moved in and are working on the house. The kids and Kelly are loving it. It won't be long they tell me before the snow hits and we will be partaking in the winter activities. In fact Hockey starts in a couple weeks!!!

Denali Trip 2

We took the Wilderness tour through the Denali National Park. At a certain point only tour buses and the shuttles are allowed through so they can cut down on privately owned vehicles. We were fortunate to see a Lynx right away which was a good sign for the rest of the day. All in all we saw two grizzly families, a half a dozen dall sheep, caribu, bull moose, fox, and some great scenery. We had closer looks at everything but the lynx and the grizzly on the way here through Canada, but it was still fun. The tour took nearly 8 hours and the kids did pretty well. There was even a place by the river where you can play with various types of furs and antlers. The trip was a little long, but was worth it.

Denali Trip 1

Saturday was too nice a day to pass on an opportunity to go visit the Denali National Forest. We plan on returning for a tour that takes us deep into the park. They offer three types that range from a few hours to a twelve hour journey that goes 87 miles into the forest. Today we just wanted to hit a couple of trails and see what it had to offer. Kelly may have seen a moose but we could not confirm. Emily enjoyed the streams and Colin enjoyed the trail work and looking for critters.

Alaska State Fair

Well it's no Minnesota State Fair, but the kids still had a great time. One more check against the 100 things to do in Alaska. Colin and Emily both took a stab at rock climbing but really struggled holding on to the wall while being pulled up and away. There were plenty of rides to try out and a bunch of animals to pet, but we did not see the rumored 100lb cabbage and other large vegetables.

Dredge #8

Today we visited Dredge #8 where 1.5 million dollars of gold was harvested at one point in time by this team/ system. Although we tried to get Emily and Colin to find some gold the old fashion way, they were more interested in socializing. Kelly found herself $14.80 in gold. I think she cheated since my bag was went missing while Emily ran off to do a unguided tour of the Gold Mining Camp. We opted not to get the Mess Hall lunch after the tour, but it smelled gooood! There was lots of other stuff to tool around in a discover, such as the store houses, bath house, and offices. The dredge started in the early 20's and closed up around the 60's.

The Duckie Race and More

Today was another part of Golden Days. There was a "Duckie" Race down the Chino river where the grand prize is said to be $10k. Kelly bought four tickets so we shall see if we won one of the 30 prizes available. There was also a parade that featured many organizations, an Army Stryker, Classic Cars, and Dancing Girls. The kids didn't make out as well on the candy front as they have at Festag in Minnesota Lake, but got plenty to get through the day. They also visited the new fire station which was open featuring two new fire poles and a monster of a fire truck.

Golden Days

Kelly and the kids really enjoyed Golden Days in Fairbanks. There was plenty to do with the Kids Parade, Log spliting, log sawing, seed spitting, pie eating, and a whole bunch of fun little things around town reliving the Pioneer days of the early 1900's. Most of the activities were in Pioneer Park, but there were others around town. Kelly thought the little girl in the blue was just the cutest in the kid parade!

Pioneer Park and the Air Museum

Yesterday we visited Pioneer Park again where the kids rode on the train once more while I toured the old houses of Fairbanks. They have about 30 houses and buisnesses from old Fairbanks from 1900-1930 which were moved into a little town with most of the stories posted on the sides which make for interesting reading. They also had a air museum where you can see many parts to old planes and some planes and some other stuff that I thought reminded me of the scene from Star Wars Episode I when the characters where looking for parts to thier ship. Anyways, one of the cool things inside was a UH-1 "Huey" which the kids were inside of. The building was filled with various parts that you normally would't see in a museum, old photos, models, prints, and was pretty cool to poke around in.

Fairbanks Fountain

Other than the Hotel Pool the kids favorite spot to hang out is the Fairbanks Fountain next to the visitor's center. Yesterday they watched a local band play at the fountain.

Pioneer Park

Today we cruised around Fairbanks, walked a little, and then visited Pioneer Park. This park was a lot of fun for the kids who took a ride on a little train, played on the playground, and wandered around a old school steamer looking for a Captain. There was much more to do such as visit the trading posts, the air museum, gold mining camp, and native American camp. We didn't get to those but maybe someday down the road. While we were there we ran into some familiar faces from Louisiana who were vacationing who recommended the Denali Train Tour that leaves from Fairbanks and Ankorage. The kids also rode a merry-go-round that was built in 1920 and had a better time than most.

Longest Day

Our longest day of the trip from Minnesota was from Kasota to Montana which took about 17 Hours. We did take a moment to stop in the Badlands and enjoy the scenery. This was a shot from Roosevelt National Park overlooking the painted canyon. Apparently there was a Gold Wings convention in the town we were going to stay at in Montana which extended our trip a few hours.

Wild Life

Kelly and I saw the majority of the wildlife between Fort Nelson and Whitehorse. She was giddy as they kept popping up alongside the road and being armed with her new Nikon D40x and a couple of 1G memory cards there was nearly no limit to the shots taken.

We saw Buffalo, Mountain Sheep, Deer, Moose, Bear, and Caribu to name a few. Meanwhile the kids slept the whole time after a rough night of watersliding at the Fort Nelson Super 8 hotel.

Looking Back

Well I started to sift through the nearly 400 photos we took along the way to pull out some highlights. Here are a few:

We saw this plane at the Northern Rockies Lodge which offered a one nights stay at the price of $119, the catch? Meals cost between 11-20 dollars per person. But armed with a cooler, we may stay there on our next trip.

Arraived in Alaska

Well the family made it here after a long and sometimes trying journey from Louisiana. Kelly has found plenty to do already since her visit to the Fairbanks Visitor Center yesterday. We are looking for a new place to call home today. So far Fairbanks has more to offer than any previous locations with the exception of Oahu. Yesterday we cruised around to take in some of the local sites and even stopped by the new office which was pretty spacious in comparison to my mobile one I had for the last few years. Be patient, we just downloaded the photos from Kelly's new camera and will post them shortly. -B