Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Cheri July-15-08
2:37 AM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
This morning at 9am we all carpooled for our city tour of Fairbanks. We stopped at the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. Spike gave us the history of the pipeline and then we visited the gift shop and walked around taking a few pictures.
The pipeline is 800 miles long. 420 miles above ground where unstable permafrost makes it necessary to elevate the pipeline; and 380 miles below ground, where the pipe is buried in stable bedrock. It crosses three mountain ranges; the Brooks, Alaska and Chugach. It stretches from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope to Valdez. It has transported more than 14 billion barrels of oil since start-up. Pipeline construction began in March 1975 and was completed in June of 1977. More than 70,000 people helped create and construct the Alaska pipeline.
Spike showed us the Holley Roller Church named such because it was moved across the frozen river on logs to its present location, the State University, and the historic part of Fairbanks. We can go and visit these places on our own in our free time.
We had lunch back at the 5th wheel and we all met up at the park office to be bussed for our Riverboat Discovery Tour at 1pm.
We boarded a sternwheeler riverboat. We cruised on the Chena and Tanana Rivers. It was a 3 ½ hour cruise. We watched a bush pilot take off on the river beside us, circle around us and land again in the water by our boat. 60 % of the people here have a pilot license.
As we made our way out where the Chena & Tanana Rivers come together you could see the difference in the color of the water. The Chena is the clear water and the Tanana River is glacial-fed and is a chalky color.
We stopped by the shore of Susan Butcher’s home. She is a 4 time champion musher of the Iditarod. Susan passed away from cancer a few years ago but her husband and children were there to tell us about the dogs and give a demonstration of the dogs pulling a 4-wheeler. Jessie Royer, another musher who also runs the Iditarod was there with some of her dogs also.
On down the river we stopped for a guided walking tour of an authentic Athabascan Indian Village. We learned about their traditions and culture.
We were able to walk around the village after the tour to take pictures before boarding the boat to go back.
Our bus picked us up at 5:45 and took us back to the campground.
At 6:30 we were on the go again. We headed for Pioneer Park for an Alaska Salmon Bake. It was an all you can eat slow roasted prime rib, beer-battered Halibut & Cod and wood-grilled Salmon with salad bar and dessert. It was all so good.
After we all finished eating we wandered into Pioneer Park and checked out the shops. Spike showed were we could buy willow walking sticks in one of the shops there. We would have to finish them ourselves. Just about everyone in the group bought one.
We returned to the 5th wheel about 9pm. Gay checked out the pictures for today and uploaded everything for the blog. See album Fairbanks 7-15-08.
The pipeline is 800 miles long. 420 miles above ground where unstable permafrost makes it necessary to elevate the pipeline; and 380 miles below ground, where the pipe is buried in stable bedrock. It crosses three mountain ranges; the Brooks, Alaska and Chugach. It stretches from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope to Valdez. It has transported more than 14 billion barrels of oil since start-up. Pipeline construction began in March 1975 and was completed in June of 1977. More than 70,000 people helped create and construct the Alaska pipeline.
Spike showed us the Holley Roller Church named such because it was moved across the frozen river on logs to its present location, the State University, and the historic part of Fairbanks. We can go and visit these places on our own in our free time.
We had lunch back at the 5th wheel and we all met up at the park office to be bussed for our Riverboat Discovery Tour at 1pm.
We boarded a sternwheeler riverboat. We cruised on the Chena and Tanana Rivers. It was a 3 ½ hour cruise. We watched a bush pilot take off on the river beside us, circle around us and land again in the water by our boat. 60 % of the people here have a pilot license.
As we made our way out where the Chena & Tanana Rivers come together you could see the difference in the color of the water. The Chena is the clear water and the Tanana River is glacial-fed and is a chalky color.
We stopped by the shore of Susan Butcher’s home. She is a 4 time champion musher of the Iditarod. Susan passed away from cancer a few years ago but her husband and children were there to tell us about the dogs and give a demonstration of the dogs pulling a 4-wheeler. Jessie Royer, another musher who also runs the Iditarod was there with some of her dogs also.
On down the river we stopped for a guided walking tour of an authentic Athabascan Indian Village. We learned about their traditions and culture.
We were able to walk around the village after the tour to take pictures before boarding the boat to go back.
Our bus picked us up at 5:45 and took us back to the campground.
At 6:30 we were on the go again. We headed for Pioneer Park for an Alaska Salmon Bake. It was an all you can eat slow roasted prime rib, beer-battered Halibut & Cod and wood-grilled Salmon with salad bar and dessert. It was all so good.
After we all finished eating we wandered into Pioneer Park and checked out the shops. Spike showed were we could buy willow walking sticks in one of the shops there. We would have to finish them ourselves. Just about everyone in the group bought one.
We returned to the 5th wheel about 9pm. Gay checked out the pictures for today and uploaded everything for the blog. See album Fairbanks 7-15-08.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: