We spent 5 nights in Fairbanks. Perhaps longer than other RVers would stay there before moving on to Denali. But a check of our progress shows we have plenty of time and there are a few things we want to do while in Fairbanks, e.g. grocery shopping.
On the way into town, we stopped at the Santa Claus House at the North Pole, which was fun. The whole town uses the Christmas theme, with candy canes and bright colors that tend to put people in a happy mood. I got to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him whether I had been naughty or nice – not sure how that conversation went. If you send postcards from their location, they will be postmarked “North Pole”, and so, of course, we had to send a few.
Once in Fairbanks, we spent some time checking out the “old town” area by the Chena River and learning some history about the city. As described elsewhere on our site, we also spent a very long 18-hour day on a tour to the Arctic Circle. It’s a beautiful trip and a good way to learn about and touch the permafrost and the Alaska pipeline. Finally, we spent a few hours taking the Riverboat Discovery trip on the Chena River. This is a sternwheeler (paddle boat) and the 3.5-hour tour in on the Chena River. On this tour we got the chance to see the late Susan Butcher’s Iditarod champion dogs in action, a Bush pilot taking off and land on the river, and a guided tour at the Chena Indian Village. It was fun and informative, a must-do in Fairbanks.
I also enjoyed the University of Alaska- Fairbanks Museum of the North where it features an interesting gold collection, excellent displays and exhibits like ‘Forced to Leave’, about the detention of Alaskan Japanese Americans and Aleuts during World War II.
A stroll at the Creamers field was in order to watch the waterfowl and birds migrating at this time especially the Sandhill Cranes.
We were also able to take a nice bike ride on the excellent paths in Fairbanks. Maybe the beautiful weather we had most of the time there helps to form the very positive opinion we have of the city. It is nice to see a place with housing fairly spread out, but also the conveniences of supermarkets like Safeway nearby. We certainly enjoyed the super-long days, never seeing darkness while we were there. We did our laundry late one night and were surprised to see lots of folks out and about in the park after 11:00pm!
We stayed at Rivers Edge RV park along the Chena River. A nice big RV park that is close to everything.
Fairbanks gets 2 thumbs up from us! Next stop, Denali National Park.
Lowes Travels 
Drats! I was hoping to see Mona Liza sitting on Santa’s lap. 🙂 Sounds like your trip is wonderful. Thank you for continuing in sharing your travel times with us. I enjoy your frequent updates. Were you able to see the Northern Lights? I hear they are beautiful. Thank you for the postcard. It was a real surprise. Keep safe. Hugs….
I asked ML to post the picture of her on Santa’s lap, but I noticed she did not. Maybe she had something going on there with Santa? The Northern Lights are one phenomenon we will miss, since it will never get dark while we are here. We saw a movie about them in Fort Nelson, though, and they are so spectacular that we may fly back in the winter sometime just to see them. Hope you are doing well!
Thoroughly enjoying your updates and taking notes. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed them for we also kept RVrs like you in mind in our blogs.
If the weather is clear in Talkeetna make sure you take an airplane tour around Mt. McKinley. There is several vendors at the airport. You’ll love it.
Already on it, we have a flight booked for the 10th which will include a glacier landing. As you might imagine, I am very excited for that day!