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| At Pioneer Park - Fairbanks |
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| Pioneer Park |
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| In a General Store - Pioneer Park |
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| Nenana River |
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| Camped at Tatlanika |
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| Animals in the gift shop - Tatlanika |
June 26, 2018
Out of the northern Alaskan wilderness and into – Fairbanks,
a small city (pop: 31,957,) but a city nonetheless, with stoplights and traffic
and strip malls, not to mention electricity and plumbing! At a mall on the
north side we found a Safeway grocery store and accompanying Safeway gas
station and car/RV wash. We took advantage of all three. The RV Wash cleaned us
out of quarters but brightened up the Siesta after all the dust and mud from
our week of Arctic adventuring.
Our other stop in Fairbanks was at Pioneer Park, a spacious
free (meaning no entry fee,) dog-friendly park with a “Goldrush Town” made up
of old original log cabins and some replicas, all of which had been moved onto
the site and converted to gift shops and museums. It was a beautiful afternoon
- sunny ad 75ish – to wander the grounds. Shop keepers kept treats on hand for
visiting dogs.
That night we camped at Tatlanika Trading Co. and River RV
Park on the Nenana River 86 miles south of Fairbanks on the road to Denali
National Park. This was one of the few private campgrounds we stayed in on this
trip. We found that in Alaska it’s common for private campgrounds to offer a
“dry” camping rate. At Tatlanika we were able to park under the trees without
plugging in for $15. I put the little log cabin laundry building to good use
and we enjoyed seeing the collection of stuffed (taxidermized) Alaskan animals
in the gift shop along with many native art and craft pieces for sale. This
shop is a stop for tour buses daily!
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