Fairbanks

  June 16, 2013 Sunday 90*

We arrived in Fairbanks Saturday after driving from Tok which is about 230 miles. Pretty nice drive although no wildlife to report. We did stop at a rest area and I got some good shots of  some distant mountains.

On the way to Fairbanks we stopped at the visitors center in Delta Junction which is the end of the Alaskan Highway. Got a picture to show that and also a picture of the unofficial state bird.

Then a little stop by Santa's Domain and checked on the Reindeer

 Saw this letter tacked up on Santa's bulletin board below.

We did a little sightseeing today and started out by going to see the Alaskan pipeline, sure it's just a pipe but its history and pretty cool to see and and explanation on how they clean the inside of the pipe using what they call a Pig.

All of us at the pipeline

 The pipe is not all exposed above ground but some is due to the fact that the heat of the oil would melt the permafrost if it was all buried underground. 

Here is a very informative information plate on the pipeline 

 This is the original pig design and below is the more modern version

Then we headed for the Pioneer Village, a sort of theme park but a lot of history stuff. We took the tour through the aviation museum. 

This was a cool little gyro copter. 

 The seat is actually the fuel cell.