Our Last Few Days in Fairbanks

Monday dawned dreary and wet. Bob wanted to check out North Star Golf Club, so off we went. Hopefully we would get a few geocaches if the weather cooperated. Bob set the GPS in the car to get driving directions to the golf course. Well, every road where the GPS told us to turn was nonexistent! I had a map and knew where we needed to go.
After many recalculations by the GPS, it got frustrated and told us it couldn't calculate a route to the golf course!

We finally arrived to find these characters trying to play through.

 This is the clubhouse for North Star Golf Club.

 

 The greens and fairway seemed to be in good condition. They should have have been with all the rain recently!

After checking out the golf course, we headed to Birch Hill Recreation Area to try to get some geocaches. The rain had almost stopped and we thought we might be able to geocache for a while. We were able to get two caches before the rain started again and we headed back to the RV.

Our next big trip was to Chena Hot Springs Resort. Four more Boomers arrived in Fairbanks and we all went together. Chena Hot Springs is about 58 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Once we arrived, we checked in to purchase our tickets to see the Ice Museum. Connie 1 and Connie 2 both wanted the apple-tinis so they got there tickets for those at the same time. We had time to wander the grounds before the tour began. There were several old cars on the property.

 There was also a pen with reindeer. They have a 99 year lease that allows them to raise reindeer. They hope to grow a herd in the coming years......

 Time for the ice museum! These are some of the tools used in carving ice.

 The museum temperature is kept at 27 degrees. Only small groups can enter every few hours so the building doesn't get too warm for the ice. Many of the sculptures were lit with special LED lights.

 This is Aurora Bar before our group got settled.

 The two Connies had  carved ice glasses with their drinks.

Boomers always enjoy a good get together...here we are at Aurora Bar. The stools had caribou seat covers, but were was still  cold!

  It is hard to see, but the silhouettes in these ice globes are Disney characters.

 The resort provides parkas, but we supplied the hats and gloves. The chandeliers were even ice carvings!

 After touring the ice museum, it was time for lunch, then a soak in the hot springs. Boy, did that feel good!

Once we started the 'looking like raisin process,' we went out to explore more of the resort. We took the geothermal tour which showed us how the resort gets all its energy. Being so far away from Fairbanks, the resort is definitely off the grid.

On our tour, we saw two more old trucks being re-purposed.

 This was the first Studebaker truck we had seen in a long time.

 The sunflowers were gorgeous. I loved the red ones.

 This dragon is not just a sculpture in the garden, it is a working grill. The grill opening is on the other side. When in use, smoke escapes from the dragon's mouth!

 We enjoyed our trip to Chena Hot Springs Resort. It was a nice get away with friends.

The next day, Larry needed to get some information and pictures of the military campground at Eielson AFB. Bob and I went with Larry and Connie since we had never been there. Eielson is about 20 miles east of Fairbanks. As we rode around after Larry finished his business, we saw a sign for Lady of the Lake B-29. Larry turned on the road and we were surprised to see a submerged airplane!

 The plane had been decommissioned--stripped of all its equipment and then put in the lake for rescue training. We found a kiosk with information about the plane. Evidently no one knew how the plane got to be in the lake until the early 2000's. I bet it made for some interesting tall tales before that time.

It was time for lunch after this adventure so we stopped in North Pole and ate at Pagoda, a Chinese restaurant feature on Triple D---Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The food was good and the portions were more than ample. I ate three meals from that one lunch!

 Our next few days would be spent doing moving chores like laundry and grocery shopping. Friday night our other Boomer friends invited us to the Moose Club where they were staying....it was cook your own steak night. We had a good time and the gals even found a geocache. We said our goodbyes to our friends staying at the Moose Club as we wouldn't see them again in Alaska. Sunday we would leave for Denali.