Hello from Tatlanika, AK. Today we traveled to Fairbanks, AK. We stopped along the way at Tatlanika Trading Co., by far the best gift shop stop we’ve had to date. Not only were there many Alaska made gifts, reasonable priced, but also had on display just about every Alaskan animal, stuffed of course, including a polar bear. The next stop was at Nenanak, where we visited a Railroad Museum, then enjoyed lunch at a little local sandwich shop with 5 other couples from our group.

Shortly after getting settled in at our campground in Fairbanks, the skies opened up, delivering a torrential downpour, including hail. For dinner, the group went to an Alaska Salmon Bake held in Pioneer Park. You enter the part through an old mining tunnel, emerging into an old mining town where you can relive those Gold Rush Days of old, complete with actual relocated log cabins, shops, sluice boxes, gold dredge buckets. The dinner menu included an “all-you-can-eat-buffet” with grilled King Salmon, Halibut and Cod plus an alternate choice of Prime Rib. After dinner, we wandered around the park, stopping in a museum showcasing the history of Fairbanks. The evening wound up at “The Golden Heart Revue”, an authentic glimpse back in time to the “Last Frontier” and the colorful individuals who formed this State, its charm and its character.