Today we rode by bus to Fairbanks. Our 1st stop is Delta Station state park. It houses six,100 year old buildings that were built after the gold rush started. There is a fully furnished road house, weigh station for wagons to determine toll fare for ferry, telegraph office, officer quarters, tool/barn, and outhouse. From the property we got a great view of the Alaskan pipeline, walking right up to it. From the park, we continued to Fairbanks, through the town of North Pole. The light poles are wrapped like candy canes. At Fairbanks we drive directly to the dock of the stern wheeler, Discovery III. We are thinking it's just another boat ride on the Chena river but we were mistaken. It was one of our neatest excursions! We went into the docking station and we were served a delicious lunch of meat stew, potatoe leek soup, biscuits and pasta salad. We then boarded the 4 story vessel and perched on the 4th level. A talented emcee gave us a short history of the value of the wheel boats in providing transportation during the 1900's. The grandson of the founder and captain of the shipping company is our captain. As we pull out, we are treated to a take off and landing of a small pontoon plane. Almost 6% of the adults here have a pilot license. The plane took off in a very short length of the river and did it twice. Then the pilot answered questions through a 2 way speaker system.

Susan Buchard was a great dog sled racer, who won the Iditarod four times. Her home and kennels are on the river and the next stop is at her property where we see 70 dogs and kennels and the training grounds. The trainers give us a live demo with 10 dogs, of various routines and then hook the dogs up to the training sled which is on wheels as there is no snow. These dogs live to run and all 70 dogs went crazy in hopes of getting hooked up. The dogs went for 2 laps around the estate. The dogs will work up to 10 miles and eventually to 100 miles per day runs as the weather grows colder. The first snow will start in August! We learned about their diets - a very interesting presentation. We then went down to the meeting of the Chena and Tanana rivers which are 2 different colors due to volcanic silt. The next event is an actual stop at an Indian Altabaskin village. We go to 3 stations where 3 Indian college students tell us about the early nomadic life, trapping and the cabin life. We see many animal pelts, clothing made from pelts, birch canoes, weapons, and cabins. The dog trainers bring 8 dogs to the village and we get to pet them and ask the trainer questions. Gary buys me the book Granite, by Susan Buchard, who died of cancer at age 31. Her husband, who now runs the kennels, signed it. Strangely, as we boarded the bus back to the hotel, Kasey, our guide, pulled me off the bus with a story that my luggage split in half and all my belongings were put in a trash bag! This was just a ploy for the entire bus to sing Happy Birthday to me! The hotel is the nicest yet and for my birthday, the Hilton gives us a suite. It is a sweet suite! Our friends, Jim and Carol go with us for pizza and salad, which we bring back to the suite. We enjoy it with a few beers while watching the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics. Once again, we're up late with an early rise to come.