Don't be fooled by the initial appearance of this sprawling city with the typical fast-food spots, malls and hotels; this region in the heart of Alaska's interior has a lot to offer. If you're lucky enough to be here between late September and early April, you can view the spectacular Northern Lights, or aurora borealis. At the El Dorado Gold Mine, you can pan for gold, just as people did at the turn of the century in this gold-rush town. The town's gold mining heritage is also reflected at the University of Alaska Museum and Alaskaland Pioneer Park, a Wild West-style theme park that recreates early Fairbanks and includes a replica of a Native American village. Fairbanks is a starting point for some great adventures, such as the scenic 160-mile Steese Highway Drive or the McKinley Explorer railroad that runs to Denali National Park and Anchorage. Energetic outdoor types can hike, mountain bike, canoe, cross-country ski or take a slow river-float trip; others can relax on a river cruise aboard an authentic sternwheeler riverboat.
University of Alaska Museum- Museum of the North
This excellent museum is UAF's main tourist attraction and sits overlooking the Tanana Valley. The most famous exhibits are Blue Babe, a fully restored 36,000-year-old bison that was found preserved intact thanks to the permafrost, and the awesome gold nugget display. The museum is currently undergoing an impressive expansion due for completion in 2005.
Information from this section found at www.lonelyplanet.com
Pioneer Park
Built for the Alaska purchase centennial in 1967, Pioneer Park (formerly Alaskaland) is the boiled-down essence of Fairbanks on grounds at the intersection of Airport Way and Peger Road. It's called a theme park, but don't expect Disneyland or anything like it. Instead, Pioneer Park is a city park with a theme. It's relaxing and low-key, entrancing for young children and interesting for adults if you can give in to the charm of the place. Admission to the park is free and the tours and activities are generally inexpensive. The park is open year-round, but the attractions operate only Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, daily from 11am to 9pm. Pick up a map and schedule when you arrive; here I've listed the highlights, but there is more to see. Depending on the pace you like to keep and the age level of your group, you can spend anything from a couple of hours to most of a day here.
Much of Fairbanks's history has been moved to Pioneer Park. A village of log cabins contains shops and restaurants, each marked with its original location and place in town history. Judge Wickersham's house, built around 1904, is kept as a museum, decorated appropriately according to the period of the town's founding. The house is less than grand -- it may remind you of your grandmother's -- but it's worth a stop to strike up a conversation with the historical society volunteers who keep it open. Pres. Warren Harding's railcar, from which he stepped to drive the golden spike on the Alaska Railroad, sits near the park entrance. The Pioneer Air Museum is housed in a geodesic dome toward the back of the park. Besides the aircraft there are displays and artifacts of the crashes of Alaska's aviation pioneers. Admission is $2 adults, free 12 and under with parent. Other attractions include a gold rush museum, an illustrated gold rush show, kayak and bike rentals, a dance hall, and an art gallery.
Tour groups generally come to Pioneer Park in the evening from mid-May to mid-September for the Alaska Salmon Bake, at the mining valley area, and the Golden Heart Revue, at the Palace Theatre. The seating area is pleasant, with indoor or outdoor dining. The revue, nightly at 8:15pm from mid-May to mid-September, covers the amusing story of the founding of Fairbanks with comedy and song in a nightclub setting.
Riverboat Discovery Tour
A long-running and popular tour, this three-and-a-half-hour cruise on a genuine sternwheel riverboat takes you on two rivers past demonstrations of local activities on the shore followed by a tour of a simulated Athabascan Indian village.
The tour is run by the Binkley family, which has been operating riverboats here since 1898. Only in the last two decades have these trade and postal boats become tourism boats. The trip takes you down the spring-fed Cheena River and up the glacial Tanana River. Rivers were the roads of commerce during the great gold rushes of Alaska. Near Fairbanks, the Cripple Creek strike was worth $100 million in gold, which would be $1 billion now.
You disembark at a simulated Athabascan Indian village, where you see how king and chum salmon were caught in fish wheels and dried or smoked. The salmon fed not only the Athabascans, but their sled dogs, on which they relied for winter transportation. You see how food was stored in high caches, which stood on poles out of the reach of bears. Several young Athabascan women give talks and demonstrations during the trip. The hard life of the Athabascans becomes apparent as you visit the area. The lushness of summer growth is deceptive because it is so brief. Life was a continual struggle for the Athabascans, who spent almost all of their time searching for food. The moose, especially, was a great prize because it might yield 1,300 pounds of meat.
Visit the home and kennels of four time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher, as you pass Trail Breaker Kennels along the Chena River. Learn first hand about kennel life and the challenges that go into making a champion dogsled team. Susan's husband Dave Monson, a champion of the Yukon Quest, or a senior handler shares stories of life in the dog yard and on the trails, as puppies play in anticipation of joining the team.
Susan and her husband Dave Monson ran in and won almost every major dog sled race worldwide. Additionally, Susan accomplished many challenges never before attempted, including taking a team of dogs to the summit of Mount McKinley! You will get a chance to see her Iditarod champion dogs in action and meet them up close as you hear more about dog mushing.
Alaska Raiload's Goldstar
Alaska Railroad's Goldstar Service, is the newest and most luxurious of all railcars. The two-level domed cars on this marvelous train provide non-stop spectacular views of this vast land and this train is operated primarily to entertain and educate its riders. When the engineer sees bears salmon fishing along the banks of the Nanana River, he slows down so everyone has a chance to see them, too. Each rail car has its own "manager" who helps spot wildlife and other natural wonders.
All the seats in these double-decker dome cars give passengers a full 350-degree view. All seats face forward, with the option to rotate seats to allow for a party of four to face one another. Make sure you walk throughout the cars, as local Alaskan artists display their ware from whale-bone sculptures to reverse-glass paintings. There is also an open viewing platform on the upper level with a glass roof at the back of the car, so you can take terrific photos without an unobstructed view.
Georgeson Botanical Gardens
The gardens are open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the public is welcome to come on in and wander around. Depending on the time of the year, visitors may see beautiful flowers, trees and shrub or giant vegetables. The best viewing is June through freeze-up in the fall.
Enjoy the mix of science and contemplation at this relaxed working garden. Plots are laid out to compare seeds and cultivation techniques, usually well posted with explanatory information on the experiment; but at the same time the flowers and vegetables are spectacular, and there are peaceful memorials and places to picnic. You don't need a tour to enjoy the garden.
Musk Ok Farm (or Large Animal Research Station)
Get up close and personal with the impressive muskoxen at the Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station, or LARS, at the University of Fairbanks. Near extinction in the 19th-century, the reintroduction of the muskoxen from Greenland worked. Now they roam all over the state, but the best place to feast your eyes on this ice-age creature is here, one of only five facilities in the world that studies the biology of the muskoxen. You'll also be able to check out the station's caribou and domesticated reindeer.
