Fairbanks Day 1

Visited University of Alaska Museum of the Far North. We spent around 2 hrs there and covered most of it.
Original Eskimo kayak. Even has a forward hach! (kinda)
Easy boy!
Prehistoric mammoth and mastodon.
Lynn with Teddy.

Then we headed up to the LARS (Large Animal Research Station). One of the very few Muskox research centers.
A student tour guide talked about the muskox, caribou and reindeer.

Ran into a couple from Anchorage that had biked up to Prudoe Bay and back. About a month on the road at this point.
Josh Parks and Renee Perreault. They both grew up in Lower Michigan. Josh actually visited Medford, WI for work, only 15 miles from where Lynn and I graduated High School.
Flowers are so vibrant up here. That's due to the excessive amount of sunshine they get in the summer months.

Visited a tourist trap, Pioneer Park.
Mostly pretty routine except for one artist. He had exceptional work but it went for $900 to $2600. A little over our budget.

This afternoon the wind picked up from the East and started blowing forest fire smoke over Fairbanks, a common happening. Fires start from lightning, mostly. Later in the evening small amounts of ash started filtering down, but still the sun was fairly bright.
We ended up going to a rib BBQ place for dinner, it was packed. The staff was perplexed as to why. I suggested with all the smoke in the air, it must have triggered the desire for smoked meat.
Had few local brews, Alaskan Amber, Stout and Pale Ale. Not bad.

Muskox, Caribou and Reindeer pics and videos from LARS.