Wednesday 31st

I'm Today we left Denali and moved to Fairbanks which nearly brings to a close our trip through Alaska, the weather again this morning is clear and sunny, and not really cold, maybe we will get to wear some of our winter clothes when we drive through the Canadian Rocky Mountains. 

The countryside changes as soon as you leave Denali into smaller rolling hills, we passed a small open cut coal mine along the way, the coal is soft and gets exported to Chile.

The trip to Fairbanks took 2 1/2 hours with a rest stop at Nenana, this is an interesting little place as they run a lottery to guess to the minute when the winter ice in the river will crack. This is the record of those people who entered in 2016, the book is 75mm thick. The cost to enter is $2.50 and anyone can enter, you can even enter on line. First prize is $250,000USD, this year 40 people shared first prize, the town takes half of the profit and the local school the other half.

This is the river today with flowing water.

This is a picture of the frozen river with the symbolic tripod, that is arrected on the ice and connected to a bell in the tower by a thin line. When the ice cracks and the tower tilts and rings the bell that is the winning lottery time. There is someone stationed in the tower to record this time.

We arrived at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge where our rooms and baggage from the cruise ship where waiting, incredible organisation. We saw some unusual sites for us from down under.

In the hotel parking lot.

This is a power outlet to plug your car into in the winter, due to extreme cold temperatures in Fairbanks, most vehicles are equipped with a winterisation package that facilitate starting during the coldest time. The standard setup consists of an engine block heater that circulates warm water through the cooling system, an oil pan heater that warms the oil, and a battery blanket/pad that warms the battery. It usually takes an hour or two after a vehicle is plugged in to warm it enough to start. We saw similar electrical outlets throughout Fairbanks. The car in the picture attempted to cross the river in the picture below just next door to the hotel.

Hotel foyia.

We took the shuttle coach into Fairbanks to find somewhere for lunch, we came across "Big Daddy's" which was a hamburger bar.

After lunch we took a stroll back to the visitors centre, the displays inside where very interesting as it explained the culture of the local indigenous people.

And I found an Eskimo.

The shortest day of the year in Fairbanks is on December 21, the winter solstice. There is only 3 hours, 42 minutes of daylight on this day.

Tonight I went out looking for the Northern Lights, we were told set our alarm for around 12.30am as the front desk was not taking any more wake up reminders. The night was clear and they did come out  but I was told they where better around 11.30pm. Also there is too much light around the hotel, they would appear clearer in a darker location, saying that what you see is amazing and the photos would've been better if you had a tripod to hold the camera steady. I can just imagine seeing them in a dark winter location with snow all around you.