Still More Trippin

Day Tripping I mean. So we had to make a stop to see Santa while we spent so much time in Fairbanks the Noth Pole and Santa’s Workshop is only about 15 miles down the road. It also gave us good reason to get some fudge. i believe that the North Pole has one of the best fudge I’ve ever tasted. This is another place we visited a few times while in Fairbanks. North Pole does have a Chinese restaurant I even liked called Pagoda we ate there twice and had enough for 4 more meals. Enough about food, back to Christmas. Since we were here last they still do not have the RV Park up and running again it looks like that is something that will never come back. They did add on to the building which is a good thing because it was cramped, now you can really begin to want to shop instead of just taking a quick look and run.

About shopping they have a Dept56 Christmas village on display with some retired pieces for sale. (I refrained from buying any). Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation house was available but we passed not enough lights. I bought our yearly dated Christmas Ornament and of course a t-shirt. Enough shopping onto sight seeing. The Post Office gets in on all the sugar sweetness of candy canes outside of the building. If you look closely you will see there is snow on the Police Car lettering. I enjoy visiting the North Pole and sharing some Christmas Spirit with everyone. BTW Christmas is less then 5 months away if you are counting.

Another side trip we took was to Nenana Alaska close to Banana but not close enough. We are still on the quest for the ‘HOLY BANANA’. Nenana had a native craft bazaar where you could talk to the artisans and find out how they made the trinkets. This town is also a stop for the all familiar tour buses. There were 2 at one time at opposite ends of town. Speaking of town this has been the first checkpoint for the Iditarod several years, that would be fascinating to hear all of the barking dogs and excitement. The other excitement that the locals look to is the ice break up on the Tanana river. Lots of money can be won if you can guess the exact day – hour – minute – second this happens. They are already selling tickets for the ice break-up in 2020. That black and white metal stanchion has a clock which stops when the ice breaks. I had to include a picture of the gift store in town because it is ‘The Road Less Traveled’ which is the unofficial theme of this year’s trip.

Speaking of gift stores this is one that is halfway between  Fairbanks and Denali I’m just saying it was pretty skinny.

I am glad I never got stationed at Fort Wainwright because winter travel in these would have been an adventure.

Speaking of adventure, on the 30th of July we enter Canada for the last time this trip and meander over to Yellowknife for a glimpse of the northern lights late August.