Day 39: Fairbanks--Down to The River

The Car Museum Again and a Sternwheeler Riverboat Tour

Sternwheeler Riverboat Discovery III

We began our day back at the  Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum to finish viewing their impressive collection of cars at a more leisurely pace (no impending football game this time).

We saw several one-of-a-kind cars, some of which Bob had never even heard of before.  For example, this M caught our eye -- it was advertised as "The Car of a Thousand Speeds" and had no gears, no clutch and no flywheel.  Its gasoline engine turned a generator that powered an electric motor that drove the rear axle.   Essentially, this is an early example of a hybrid car similar to the current Chevy Volt.  It also has a second break pedal on the passenger side-- perhaps to accommodate men who couldn't sit idly by while their wives drove or perhaps it was the very first example of a driver's ed car.  The museum says its a mystery.

1917 Owen Magnetic-- an early hybrid

We were also impressed by this Pebble Beach award winner, a 1919 McFarlan--known as the "American Rolls Royce" for its size, prestige and sophistication. This one was owned by old-time movie actor Wallace Reid (I hadn't heard of either him or the car before today), who had the wheel caps made in sterling silver.  At first I thought M might be jealous, but she'll take German engineering above american profligacy any day!

Wheel to Wheel

We were also tickled by this Bob & Lisa sized display.  The little one in front is a 1934 "Baby Austin" which just might be the only 1930s car made that is small enough for me to drive. (105" long, 16" narrower and 28" shorter than any other car made in the US at that time.)

1930s Cars:  Bob Size & Lisa Size

About now anyone who knows me is probably wondering how I know so many details about these antique automobiles.  No, Bob isn't ghosting this part of the blog.  He bought a book on the museum collection and I am shamelessly copying from the descriptions therein.

Having finally done the cars justice, we moved to the boat portion of our day. After walking through two sternwheeler museums we were finally going to get a chance to ride one.

Big Paddle Wheel on the Sternwheeler

The tour was on the Sternwheeler Riverboat Discovery, and consisted of climbing aboard and riding very, very, slowly down the Chena river.  As we drifted along we were treated to an ongoing narrative of the history of the river and the boats, a made for tourists float plane take-off and landing, another made-for tourists running of the sled dogs, and a "living museum" of a Chena Indian Village.  

Here is a nice view from the boat:

View of the Chena River from the boat

All of this we could have done without, but it was a really beautiful day and just perfect for a slow boat to nowhere.  Here are some highlights:

You probably notices that some of this video was rather jerky-- that's because yellow-jackets were all over the boat and kept coming at me (you'll even see one at one point).  I did my best to edit out my shrieks and swats-- but couldn't quite get them all.

You'll probably also notice strangers mugging for GoPro.  We have learned that traveling with GoPro is akin to traveling with a really cute puppy-- everyone wants to pet him and speak to him and know all about him.

One thing that surprised us as we floated along the river was the number of cool houses we saw, and the number of people living in them who came to the water's edge to wave at the boat.  I would imagine that would get really old really fast, so perhaps they were renters.

Here's one of the houses we particularly liked-- note the concrete helipad in the back yard.

Helipad in the Backyard

As you saw in the video we ran into a number of animals on the trip-- dogs, chickens, and reindeer, all caged and domesticated.  However, we did encounter some actual wildlife-- these ducks.

Wild Ducks on the Chena River

As we returned to the dock, we got a great view of downtown Fairbanks, shown below.

Downtown Fairbanks as seen from the boat (and an arty picture of a float plane)

You'll have probably gleaned from my narrative that much of this trip was too kitschy for words-- and as we were leaving we figured out why.  This trip is a massive tour-bus attraction.  Here are 11 tour buses lined-up and awaiting their passengers.  

11 Tour Buses

We ran to the other parking lot where M waited impatiently, and hot-tailed it out of there before those buses.

--Lisa