8/17/12 NORTH POLE, AK

We paid for three nights here at River View RV Park and extended it another three nights yesterday.  It’s taking us longer to see what we want in the Fairbanks area because we seem to be running out of steam. We like our leisurely mornings that seem to run into noon.  Although we have been going at a very slow pace I think we are about ready to go home.  We left Texas May 6^th so it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the kids. 

We went into Fairbanks the other day to see Pioneer Park.  This theme park is set up to look like an old gold mining town with historical Alaska exhibits.  It’s pretty much a tourist trap but we enjoyed seeing some of the old cabins that were moved onto the property as well as an old steam engine riverboat and an old railroad car. 

Next we visited Creamers Field.  This Migratory Waterfowl Refuge comprises about 2000 acres.  The fields, woods, and wetlands are managed for the benefit of wildlife by the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game.
In 1977, the farmhouse, barns, and surrounding 12 acres were listed in the National Register of Historic Places of the National Park Service.  This used to be a privately owned dairy farm back in the day.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the old farmhouse, huge barns and expansive fields surrounding the area.  It’s neat to think of how life on this farm used to be.  As soon as you go up the road to the property you pass a large pond with sandhill cranes and Canadian geese.  The birds are pretty close to the observation deck and don’t seem to be bothered by humans.  We took a trail around the back of the property that goes back into the boreal forest. 

Yesterday we visited the town of North Pole.  The Santa Claus House is a privately owned property that houses a large gift shop full of everything Christmas.  Lot’s of Christmas trees and Santa is available to talk with kids and adults.  We got our picture with him.  He talks a lot, very nice man.  He talked a lot about fishing in different areas of Texas.  He seemed to know a lot about Texas.  When I asked him where he is originally from he said “well from the North Pole of course, Santa is always from the North Pole”.   They have reindeer outside with huge antlers.  Madi and Holden would love to visit this place.  The town of North Pole is larger than I expected.  It’s decorated like Christmas time all the time with candy cane street lights, etc.  The street names are Christmas themed (mistletoe lane, St. Nicholas street, snowman lane). 

I have been getting up a lot every night/morning to check for the aurora lights.  I haven’t seen them again since the display a few nights ago.  I want to see them one more time and try to get some good pictures since I’ve adjusted my camera.  Unfortunately it is pretty cloudy at night and the forecast looks like it will be that way for some time. It has to be a pretty clear night to see the lights.  I want to visit the University of Alaska museum in Fairbanks then move on up to Chena Hotsprings about 60 miles north of here.  This sounds like a good spot to view the northern lights and there is an ice museum I want to see there.  If we don’t see the lights soon we’ll start our trek back home and watch for them while traveling through Canada.  It will take about 2 weeks to make it back home.  A drive I’m dreading.  It didn’t seem so bad coming up to Alaska because we had places to stop and see along the way.  Not so much on the way back home. 

 

8/18/12 NORTH POLE, AK

WE SAW THE AURORA BOREALIS LAST NIGHT AND THEY WERE FANTASTIC!
Fortunately it was not cloudy last night like the forecast predicted.  I woke up at midnight after maybe 2 hours sleep and dragged myself outside to take a look at the sky.  No lights but the sky was clear and many stars visible.  The aurora forecast was rated a 3 for tonight which is pretty good.  I kept watch for over an hour then went back inside the rv to warm up. It’s was colder this night and I had to keep going inside for a bit to warm up even though I was layered up with clothing.  Since I hadn’t seen the light the last several nights I thought about going back to bed.  I was so tired from getting up every night and not getting a full night’s sleep in awhile.  I kept looking outside and decided since it was such a clear night I should push through the fatigue and stand vigil.  If I was going to see the lights again I needed to keep watch.  I went on the internet to check the ABN (Aurora Borealis Notification) to see if anyone was reporting the lights in the area.  Nothing.  I got up to get some water and casually looked out the little window by the front door.  THE LIGHTS WERE OUT!!!  And they were bright lime green, lots of them right overhead.  I woke Norm, grabbed the camera and tripod and hurried outside.   The lights were fantastic.  I can’t believe how good they were and they lasted a long time,  probably 1 ½ to 2 hours.   At one point they went out and we thought that might be the end of the light show.  After awhile they came back right overhead, large and bright with red/magenta color around the edges of the bright lime green.  It was as if someone was painting the sky with a wide paint brush.  The lights would stretch clear across the sky, grow wide, and slim down to a thin line, swirl, all sorts of shapes and sizes.  They would stop for a while then come back.  The sun started coming up around 3:40 and the lights went out.  That’s when Norm went back to bed.  I stayed up and half hour or so watching from inside the rv with the space heater on (it was cold and my feet were freezing). 

Unfortunately our cameras did not take good pictures, even after all the adjustments we made.  Norm made a few more adjustments to his camera and got little better pictures but they sure don’t do it justice.  I am completely hooked on these lights.  WOW, Double WOW with ice cream on top!

Yesterday we went into Fairbanks to visit the University of Alaska Museum.  They have a very nice, large collection of artifacts on display.  We spent several hours there and watched two short films in their theatre.  One about the aurora borealis, the other about winter in Alaska.  The second level of the museum is a large gallery of art.  Tomorrow we move on up to Chena HotSprings.  We’ll be dry camping for a few days then start making our way back home. 

For more pictures go to my picassa pictures.  https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

Unfortunately they are not very good but there is one I borrowed from someone else here in North Pole that was taken last night as well. 

We just could not get a good picture of the aurora.