Day 41: Outskirts of Fairbanks

Alaska Pipeline & The North Pole

M Poses with Santa in North Pole, Alaska (Red on Red)

Today we explored around Fairbanks, heading out to the North and to the South of the city.  But first, we stopped at the one gallery in town that we missed yesterday.  And, I finally got myself a Polar Bear from Alaska-- this carved ivory piece made by a native craftsman.

Ivory Polar Bear

He is very cute, and also very well done.  The picture does not do the detailed carving justice.

From there we headed north out of town to Fox, Alaska and on the way stopped at the Alaska Pipeline Visitors Center, which was really just a sign on the side of the road and a bridge that allowed you access to the pipeline itself.

Much of the pipeline is underground, but some sections are above ground like this one.

Alaska Pipeline

Bob the Engineer was enamored of this "engineering marvel" that was constructed in just 2 years.  The pipeline moves back and forth on Teflon (like?) slide pads to compensate for expansion and contraction due to ambient temperature.

Teflon Slide Pads on the Alaska Pipeline

The heat pipes were another fine piece of engineering-- designed to keep the ground from being overheated by the pipes and thus stabilizing the soil around the pipes so they don't collapse.

Heat Pipes on Alaska Pipeline

And, of course the blog wouldn't be complete without Bob touching Oil Pipe. (It doesn't mix with water, but he'll touch it just the same.)  

Bob Touches Oil Pipe

This does give you a feel for scale.  The pipes are about 4 ft in diameter, and in this spot abut 7.5 ft above the ground.

We then proceeded up the highway to Fox where the northern-most craft brewery was supposed to be-- and it was, but it was closed.  So, we drove a bit further in pretty country (sorry no video, we left GoPro at the house), to the northern-most point we will reach on the Great Alaska Adventure then turned around to head to North Pole (which is actually south of Fairbanks).

We took the back way through some lovely country, and on the way ran into this boiler just sitting in the weeds in front of a church.

Church of the Abandoned Boiler

Bob took it as a sign that boilers were blessed; I took it as a sign that boilers in Alaska are like cars in the country--when they don't run any more you just leave them in the field to rust.

When we reached North Pole (yes that is the name of the town, not just the tourist trap), we quickly found ourselves at The Santa Claus House, along with several tour buses (even this late in the season).  We were however dismayed that Santa was not available (I overheard the staff saying that he had called in sick).  

We went to North Pole and all we got was this lousy picture.
(Though for 30 bucks we could have gotten a lousy T-shirt too.)

However, I did get a big bear hug from one of the stuffed natives:

Lisa Gets a Bear Hug in North Pole

At that point it started raining and we headed back to Fairbanks.  A quiet day but we hit the high marks of engineering and of manufactured tourist traps, and we saw boilers.  So a success all-in-all.

--Lisa