Shots from around Fairbanks' Pike's Landing District:
On the side of a barn at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm was a large quilted pattern that would have looked more at home in either Pennsylvania's Amish area or rural Kentucky than in Alaska. I just found out that barn quilts celebrate family heritage, local history, and community pride. They can also serve as decorative markers for navigation and, historically, as carriers of coded messages.
Since it seemed strange that there was a botanical garden just 140 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Steven and I were curious to check out the Georgeson Botanical Garden on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Named in honor of the first director of the Agricultural Experiment Stations in the state, Dr. Charles C. Georgeson established the first experiment farm in Sitka in 1898. Only three years after Fairbanks was founded, he received a petition from some of its 84 homesteaders in 1905 requesting that an experimental farm be established in the Tanana Valley.
They wanted to learn which crops would grow best under the midnight sun, develop techniques for crop production, and share that knowledge with all Alaskans. That has remained the garden's goal since 1906, although it transitioned from a research garden to a botanical garden in 1989. The focus has grown to include education, leisure activities, hosting public events, and inspiring people about high-altitude horticulture.
A giant fence surrounded the apple orchard because, even though moose eat cabbages and just about everything else in the garden, I learned that they LOVE young apple trees and will devour the entire tree! We found out that commercial growers and home gardeners use a powerful electrical fence to keep moose out. Bear hides draped over fences, wolf urine, Irish Spring soap, and bird netting over plants are among the other measures that have been tried. Some work, but most are just desperate.
I wasn't wild about crossing the swinging bridge with my walker to reach Grant's Tree House!
As both of our sons achieved the highest Boy Scout rank of Eagle Scout, we were impressed that a Fairbanks Boy Scout had created Levison's Loop in the garden for his Eagle Scout Project.
We had to give the almost two-acre Wild Rose Maze a miss, as it was far too early in the season to admire roses. Ditto for the collection of over 120 peony cultivars, the Display Garden, and the Food Demonstration Garden, but the large Children's Garden was impressive.
Note to others contemplating a trip to Alaska: Go later in the season than we did, as mid to late May was on the cusp of being too early for some of the state's exciting attractions.
We certainly don't see such cute bathroom signs in our part of the world!
In downtown Fairbanks, there was the unusual Baby Ravens in Nails sculpture.
How to tell Alaskans from tourists? The former wore t-shirts and shorts that day, while wimpy people like us from the Lower 48 states were all bundled up in jackets and hats on an overcast day that we thought was chilly!
Another sculpture that caught our attention in downtown Fairbanks was the Unknown First Family located in Golden Heart Plaza.
In the previous post, I wrote about the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, also called the pipeline by locals. Our first glimpse of it was at the Pipeline Viewing Station at Mile 8 on the Steese Highway, ten miles north of Fairbanks. The sight was impressive for two reasons: One, it was a fantastic feat of engineering that stretched 789 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to Valdez, North America's northernmost ice-free port, where the oil is then sent by barge to the Lower 48 states for refining. Crude oil from Alaska's North Slope is transported across three mountain ranges, three major earthquake faults, and more than 500 rivers and streams. The pipeline corridor includes more than 550 crossing areas for caribou, moose, and other wildlife.
The pipeline history: Oil was discovered in 1968 at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope, located between the Brooks Range Mountains and the Beaufort Sea. An association of oil companies determined that a pipeline would be the best means to transport the crude oil to a navigable port where it could be shipped by tankers to the continental US. The Aleyska Pipeline Service Company was established in 1970 to design, construct, operate, and maintain the pipeline, which began moving oil in 1977.
Pipeline design: At the pipeline exhibit, we read that in permafrost areas where heat from the pipeline might cause the ground to thaw and become unstable, the pipeline was insulated and elevated above ground using a unique support system. Support pipes embedded in the ground sometimes contained heat pipes to remove heat and keep the ground frozen. We learned that there were more than 124,000 heat pipes containing carbon dioxide gases along the pipeline to keep unstable soils frozen year-round and support the pipeline.
Above-ground sections of the pipeline were built in a zigzag pattern to accommodate the pipe's expansion and contraction with temperature changes. The shape also accounted for the pipeline's movement during an earthquake, with greater allowance for vertical or lateral movement at fault lines.
Where thaw-stable soils were found, the pipeline was buried in the conventional manner below ground. In some areas, the line was also insulated and buried to accommodate animal crossings or to avoid rockslides and avalanche areas. In other places, the pipeline was buried in a refrigerated ditch to keep the soil in a stable frozen condition. There were 44 buried road crossings to accommodate vehicle traffic along the almost 800-mile pipeline.
The pipeline is maintained in large part by pigs, automated and semi-automated cleaning machines that are sent with the moving oil through the pipes at intervals. The pigs are launched and retrieved at pump stations. The orange polyurethane sample in the photo of the pipe segment below is a cleaning and flow-improvement pig. More sophisticated pigs use magnetic fields and ultrasonic signals to detect minute changes in the pipe's wall thickness and shape. Pigs are among the most essential tools for protecting pipelines and detecting potential problems.
A retired pig:
The second reason the pipeline was so impressive was that its construction fueled some of the state's wildest days. Workers coming to Alaska in the 1970s, particularly to Fairbanks, reaped outstanding wages, even in the most menial jobs. Though Alaska had always enjoyed a certain frontier spirit, those who lived through "the pipeline days" recall it as among the wildest and most uncontrolled periods in the state's history. The effects of the business and personal relationships from that era have continued to shape Alaska's path to the present day.
It was then a good 25-mile detour southeast to the small town of North Pole, but how could we resist exploring a place with that name! If you want a free roller coaster ride, that was the road to take, as frost had caused the road to heave. Steven cautioned that driving too fast on it would take out our transmission, however.
All the streetlights in town looked like giant candy canes! Anyone with a bit of Christmas spirit would embrace the festive spirit year-round in North Pole with street names like Mistletoe Dr., St. Nicholas Dr., Santa Claus Lane, Kris Kringle Dr., Snowman Lane, North Star Dr., and Blitzen and Donner! We'd read ahead of time to play it cool by getting the community's name right: it was North Pole, not the North Pole, which would have meant we were talking about the Earth's northern axis of rotation!
Of course, the local McDonald's got into the Christmas spirit, too!
The nearly 50ft.-High Santa Claus out front was the world's largest.
I had tried months earlier to order custom letters from Santa Claus from the North Pole Chamber Visitor Information Cabin for Max and Clara, our only two granddaughters in 2023. Unfortunately, I never got a response.
The Antler Academy of flying reindeer games was next door.
On the drive to Chena Hot Springs, we passed some more fun animal crossing signs that we never see in the Lower 48 states!
As the Ring of Fire, a ring of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean, runs right through Alaska, it's no surprise that the state is full of geothermal energy. Chena Hot Springs was one of the few hot springs that was developed for tourists, and was described as "one of the best things going in the Fairbanks area," as long as you didn't mind the longish drive on the paved, permafrost-buckled road!
Before settling in for the night, we immediately took advantage of the hot springs rock pool, which proved to be the resort's highlight in our minds. The temperature was a balmy 102-108 degrees, depending on how close we were to the vents.
A Douglas DC-6 plane, formerly operated by Everts Air Cargo, was retired to the resort on October 2, 2016. After it made its final flight up from Anchorage after 62 years in service, the aircraft was hoisted into position atop 30-ft. poles.
Next post: Chena's Ice Museum, Delta Junction, and on to Glennallen via the Richardson Highway.
Posted on New Year's Day, 2026, back home in Denver after our Christmas holiday getaway, visiting loved ones in San Francisco. I hope that each of you will enjoy a year filled with good health, happiness, and that your dreams take flight in the new year.
