July 14, 2019

We are in Fairbanks AK and leave tomorrow for Denali National Park. So want to bring you up to date. We finally came to the end of the AlCan Highway in a little place called Delta Junction for those following these post you will remember that we started at mile zero in Dawson Creek BC Canada on July 1, 2019. It was rainy once again when we left Tok and was hopeful that it would help with the smoke…it didn’t. Our first stop was Delta Junction it has a great visitor’s center and of course the most important thing.. the end of the road sign. Fairbanks has been interesting, but looking forward to Denali. We arrived on Thursday and Friday because of the rain we did our shopping to re-supply as there will not be any stores to speak of until we are in Anchorage on the 23rd. I also decided I needed a pedicure and I am not exaggerating when I say it is the absolute worst one I have ever had, so bad I actually left a review on Yelp…which I never do. We visited North Pole and had a nice talk with Santa evidently I need to do better. What the heck does he know! The University of Alaska Fairbanks has a very interesting museum that concentrates on Native cultural as well the exploration of Alaska. As many of you probably do not know I have a background in design so I really loved all the fabric and beadwork. Today we went to the University’s Muskox and large animal research center. The tour was very interesting and enlightening. Apparently by the 1860 hunters had wiped out the Muskox population in Alaska. In the 1930’s 40’s a grant was give to repopulated the area. Babies were imported from Europe to New York by ship then overland by train to the west coast of the US then by barge to one of the small islands, When the population reached about 800 and they were old enough they were re-introduced to the wild. They can only be legally hunted now by the Native tribes and 2 tags a year issued to hunters. Because of the changes in the climate the herd in Canada is being decimated by disease that ,they think , is being introduced by rodents. This facility is studying the animals in the hopes of providing a way to help the other herds. One more thing the Muskox are brushed everyday and that fur/hair is being turned into yarn as a cottage industry. It’s about $100 a skin so won’t be making a scarf anytime soon. On to pictures