bobanddenisewanderlust

Alaska Fact – Land area- 570,373.6 sq. miles, 1/5th of the United States!

The dogs grooming appt. was at 8:00, so we were out the door early. We dropped them off at Doggy Daze Grooming Salon and ran to Walmart again. We had forgotten to buy dog bones. I also stopped in their liquor store and bought two more bottles of the Cupcake Moscoto.

We stopped at Fred Meyer as the Kashi Cereal was on sale for $3.29 there. I had wanted to check at Walmart first for their price. It was $4.50 at Walmart. We also picked up a few other items, then returned home.

Bob worked on getting a new mask for his CPAP, as his current mask broke. He had to have his usual supplier forward the prescription to a company here in Alaska. Our insurance has no providers in Alaska.

We also worked on my phone. For some reason, it suddenly decided we were in a foreign country and cut off my service. Verizon was helpful in getting it fixed.

The groomer called and we ran over to pick up the dogs, then stopped at the DME store for the CPAP headgear. We returned to the motor home to drop off the dogs. We proceeded to the Ice Museum. This Museum ($12) is about ice carving.

They had a movie on their Ice Festival, held in March when it warms up enough for folks to  venture out. Then there was a nice ice carving.

We returned to the motor home for lunch and to walk the dogs. Our next stop was to visit The Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was not too far away. The Church is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has beautiful stain glass windows, but I can’t take good pictures of them. The Church is also famous for having a tin ceiling.

Our next stop was the Episcopal Log Church. This Church is in excellent condition. The original church burned down in 1947, so this is the second church, but it was really in great condition.

We are staying directly across the Chena river from the church.

We continued on from the Church to Pioneer Park. Pioneer Park was originally named Alaska Land, up until the centennial celebration, when it was renamed Pioneer Park. The buildings were brought to this site for the celebration. The park is free!

We started by stopping at the little visitor center. The gal there suggested that we ride the train around the park, so we walked over to the Railroad Museum. We purchased our tickets ($1 ea). The train ride was interesting. The docent was in costume and gave a nice presentation, explaining the buildings. You make two trips around the park on the train, with her telling us about different buildings each time around.

Once the train ride was over, we went to the Native American exhibit.

Lots of stuff we have seen before. So we wandered through the Gold Rush town. The buildings are original, just not to this site. We started at the Pioneer Museum, where they had some interesting exhibits. This is a 1901 Ford. Bob was fascinated! It is a replica, but still….

Before Alaska became a state, they needed a flag. The design that was chosen  was by a 13 yo orphan boy.

Here is a cream separator.

This is an old cash register.

This is a coffee grinder. They had these in the local stores, as the coffee did not arrive ground .

This info about Elementary Schoolteachers was interesting.

We wandered through some of the buildings. Some were museums and some were gift shops. I bought a Fairbanks pin.

This house was owned by  Kitty Hensley.

She co-owned one of the Paddlewheelers, which when you think about it, was an accomplishment for a woman at that time. It eventually crashed, but she lived here into her 80’s. She must have been something, as this little house has some really steep steps to go up to the bedroom. We spent some time talking to the docent.

We stopped at the original Presbyterian church, since it seems to be a day for churches! They hold services here every Sunday.

This is Judge Wickersham’s house.

 

He was the local judge, traveling around Alaska doing trials. There is a newspaper in the house that showed that the judge had to submit a report on something to Washington. Teddy Roosevelt did not like what he wrote, so he sent his own man to research whatever the issue was!

This is President Warren Harding’s railroad car. He came to Alaska to plant the golden spike for the Alaska Railroad in 1923.

Our final stop was at the SS. Ninana  This was the last paddleboat on the river. Inside, the first floor had dioramas about a lot of the towns in Alaska. it was very interesting, as it showed how the towns were and how they are now.

We returned to the motor home exhausted. we laid down for awhile, then ate dinner.

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