Fairbanks Riverboat Discovery, Wednesday, July 22, 2009

We spent a week in Fairbanks at this WalMart Super Center. I like the design, much like a western town. We were able to "dump" our gray & black water and pick up fresh water at several gas stations in the city who provide the free service.


Wednesday, we decided to do a very "touristy" thing and ride this riverboat down the Chena River, which flows through Fairbanks.

Many tour ships have their passengers ride this riverboat and today was no exception. This is the Discovery III, run by a family for many years. It is a stern wheeler as opposed to a side wheeler.

While on the boat we were given a float plane demonstration where a pilot took off and landed right on the river. These pilots become quite skilled at short take-offs and landings!

See the quick climb-out!

This is the Pumphouse, a restaurant right on the river. There was one similar to this in Homosassa, Florida, until it burned to the ground. Sadly, they have not rebuilt the one in Homosassa.

This is a modern log "cabin" or should I say, "house" right on the river. I could live in this one! (At least in the summer- remember that it is Alaska!)

This is a unique, sod-roofed house on the river with a tarp on top of the sod, held down by old tires. As I have said before, Alaska is full of unique individuals!

This is the riverfront home of the senior owners of the Discovery III. It was beautiful and not ostentatious. I am sure they are multi-millionaires!

Our next stop of the trip was the riverfront home of Susan Butcher, to see about Iditerod dogs. These are her children, at least two of them. Susan died in 1996 of cancer. I do not know which of the older two are hers but the youngest girl is hers. They have some husky puppies they are training. Susan's husband still runs the kennels she started.

Here the husband is showing all about the dogs and the training. He has a team hitched up to the ATV. The ATV has no engine in it. It is just a shell.

This is an unique houseboat, found on the river! Again, the free spirit people of Alaska.

We rode the riverboat to the confluence of the Chena with the Tanana River. The Chena is fresh water and the Tanana is a glacier fed river, full of silt. Can you see the distinct line of the brown Chena with the grey Tanana?

Our next stop on the river was a reconstructed Athabascan Indian village on the river. They raise Reindeer for food and this is their herd.

This is one of their beds in a temporary hunting lean to. It has fur on top of spruce or hemlock boughs.

Here is one of their birch bark canoes. It appears very fragile.

One of the native girls shows a dress made of skins and fancy beadwork. It was very beautiful.

This Athabascan girl, a college student, showed us all sorts of animal hides and their uses in their clothing.

Here she shows us the beautiful parka, made by her grandmother. It is made of all skins and fur.

The same girl explains how they prepare mooses hide for clothing. It is quite a process!

This is a temporary hunting hut made of birch bark.

This is a fish camp, which they set up in the summers to catch & process fish for the winter. They catch the Salmon with the fish wheel, cut it, dry it and store it.

This is a fish wheel in the water, actually working. The current going down stream turns it and the salmon swimming upstream get scooped out of the river.

Here are some fish filets drying before they are smoked.

This girl shows us how they filet and score the fish filets so the smoke flavor will penetrate the flesh.

Here the fish are hung in the smoke house to give them flavor, and also keeping the flies off while preserving them.
This shows the lean to and the hide huts they used when chasing caribou herds during the fall hunting seasons.

Here is a closeup of the hide hut. The opening in the top is for the smoke from the fire. These were portable.

At the end of the ride, here are the cruise ship buses lined up to take their passengers back to their ships.

This shows the forest fire in the distance.

Inside the gift shop was this diplay of Susan Butcher and her lead dogs and the sled which she used to win 4 Iditerod Races and place in the top ten of all the 17 races she entered. She also won 3 years in a row! She may have been the first woman to win this race. It is a 1041 mile race from Willow outside of Anchorage to Nome.