This morning after a quick cup of coffee and muffin we boarded our coach bus for a ride to the El Dorado Go
ld Mine tour, which was part of our tour package. On the way to the gold mine, we made a short stop to see a portion of the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline that goes through the Fairbanks area. Then it was on to the Gold Mine Tour. It was rather interesting to see how gold was mined
about 100 years ago, but the overall tour/train ride, panning for gold was a bit hokey...... perhaps best for young kids. We returned to the hotel for an hour, had lunch and then went on a 3 hour Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise. This took us along the Chena River, where the guide on the boat told about the area and specific places we passed on the way. This was quite interesting, and a lot more rewarding than our morning experience. We passed a sled dog camp along the way, where the boat stopped and we were given a short talk about the dogs, racing, etc.
That was a lot of fun. We continued along the river, and stopped for an hour or so at an Athabascan Indian village. Here, some natives explained their traditional ways of life and we saw many of their ways of life and artifacts. At one point we saw a sea plane taking off as we traveled down the river. That was a rather interesting sight. It becomes obvious that in Alaska, this is a major means of transportation due to the limited number of major roads. We are now back at the hotel where we just finished dinner. Pamm, Alan and I all had reindeer lasagna & Gail had BBQ Ribs. We now have to pack our bags and get ready for a 7:00AM departure tomorrow by rail to Denali Park where we will spend one night.
ld Mine tour, which was part of our tour package. On the way to the gold mine, we made a short stop to see a portion of the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline that goes through the Fairbanks area. Then it was on to the Gold Mine Tour. It was rather interesting to see how gold was mined 
about 100 years ago, but the overall tour/train ride, panning for gold was a bit hokey...... perhaps best for young kids. We returned to the hotel for an hour, had lunch and then went on a 3 hour Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise. This took us along the Chena River, where the guide on the boat told about the area and specific places we passed on the way. This was quite interesting, and a lot more rewarding than our morning experience. We passed a sled dog camp along the way, where the boat stopped and we were given a short talk about the dogs, racing, etc. 
That was a lot of fun. We continued along the river, and stopped for an hour or so at an Athabascan Indian village. Here, some natives explained their traditional ways of life and we saw many of their ways of life and artifacts. At one point we saw a sea plane taking off as we traveled down the river. That was a rather interesting sight. It becomes obvious that in Alaska, this is a major means of transportation due to the limited number of major roads. We are now back at the hotel where we just finished dinner. Pamm, Alan and I all had reindeer lasagna & Gail had BBQ Ribs. We now have to pack our bags and get ready for a 7:00AM departure tomorrow by rail to Denali Park where we will spend one night.
1 comment:
Loving the photos, Bob!! They are great!
Ilana and I head back to AZ tomorrow morning. I got a nice sympathy call from Laura and Laurie... very sweet of them.
THings are going OK here.
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