8/19-29/2021

Visiting Fairbanks is the last segment of our 2021 Alaska trip. We will stay in Fairbanks for ten days without too many must-see items except hoping to see the Northern Lights. The aurora season starts from Aug. 21, but it becomes more active after Sept. 15. Knowing the probability of seeing aurora light may not be great, we went ahead to book an Airbnb for ten days just to relax and enjoy the cool climate.
The Airbnb rental is a newly-constructed one bedroom above the owner's garage on a mountain ridge away from the city light, ideal for Northern Lights viewing. The contemporary room is beautifully decorated, and the owner lives in a house on the same property but separated from the unit. Here is what we say about the place in Airbnb Review.
"What a gorgeous place for us to stay in Fairbanks for the last ten days. The location is great. It's quiet with a beautiful view. It's also close to the restaurants and shops. The Chalet was extremely clean and very well decorated. Everything looks brand new. The kitchen had everything you needed. The washer and dryer were super helpful during our long stay. It's a home away from home, and we had a great time. Kristin was an amazing host. She was very helpful and answered all our questions quickly. This is the BEST Airbnb I have ever stayed in! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to stay in Fairbanks! – Connie"

The University of Alaska Fairbanks, called UAF, is 10 min driving distance from our Airbnb place. Its campus on the hill is vast and beautiful. One afternoon, we visited Georgeson Botanical Garden on the campus, a well-designed and maintained research facility. Although the growing season in Alaska is short, surprisingly, we find that the vegetables growing in the garden are much larger than what in the low 48 states. Visiting the UAF Museum of the North is the highlight of the trip. We also attend the 75th-anniversary celebration of the Geophysical Institute to see the exhibit booths and tour the satellite antenna site.

On Aug. 22, today's weather is one of the best during our ten-day stay in Fairbanks. We booked the famous riverboat tour in Fairbanks, Riverboat Discovery, a few days ago. The riverboat tour business started 100 years ago, and Brinkley's family still runs the company. Our captain is the great-granddaughter of the founder. It is not just a river cruise. It takes us to see an Athabascan Indian village, view a team of dogs mushing an ATV, and watch a small plane taking off and landing on water. Of course, the scenery along the river is also fantastic. It is the best riverboard cruise we have had, but we only have had three so far.

The next day, we go to Gold Daughters for gold panning, one of the popular tourist things to do in Fairbanks. We pay $20 for a bag of paydirt and using the panning equipment. They guarantee we would find gold in the bag from Fairbanks Gold Co. Before we try our luck on the paid paydirt, they recommend using the dirt from a pile of paydirt hauled from a local gold mine to practice. They teach us a few gold-pan techniques. We have spent about two hours there, and it was exhilarating to find a lot of tiny pieces of gold flakes, enough to put into a necklace locket we purchased from their store. The gold we panned is worth less than what we paid, but we are super exciting and fun to find GOLD. After gold panning, we drive across the highway to the other side of the road to see the Tran-Alaska Oil Pipeline, learning a few things about the construction and design.

One morning we walked into a local bakery near our place. We noticed a post of the Sandhill Crane Festival in Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, 15 mins away from our Airbnb. That reminds us of our trip to Kearney, Nebraska, in 2018 to view Sandhill Crane's migration. We enjoyed seeing thousands of sandhill cranes and Canadian goose on that trip. It was a pleasant surprise to see the Sandhill Cranes here in Fairbanks. We visit the Creamer's Field several times to watch and take many pictures of those beautiful creatures in the next few days.

The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum is a must-see place in Fairbanks. It is one of the best auto museums in the world, with a world-class collection of vintage automobiles and period fashions, telling the story of the rich and colorful auto and transportation history in Alaska. Among all other gorgeous and spotless cars, a single-cylinder car, 1905 Sheldon Roundabout, gets our most attention. It was the first automobile in Alaska built by 24-year-old Bobby Sheldon to win over the attention of a young lady without seeing a real car. Unfortunately, he didn't win the heart of the young lady, but Sheldon went on to become a legend in Alaskan automotive history.

We also visit a few other places, North Pole, Chena Hot Spring, Pioneer Park, and Wedgewood Bird Sanctuary. We had a terrific dinner at a historic Pump House on the shore of the Chena River.

To see Northern Light is the main reason for our extended staying in Fairbanks. The aurora activity is moderate during that time. Plus, the weather is either cloudy or rainy most time. The chance to see the Light is not great. But we still try to stay late to hope to see the Northern Light on a few of those days. We check the website and find out whether the aurora is active or not—we set up our camera to take a picture of the sky every 5 mins. After we stayed all night until 2-3 am on consecutive days, not seeing any aurora light, we thought the chance to see it was slim, so we went to sleep early one night. The following day, we check out our camera, and we find a few pictures of the Northern Light taken from the window of our stay. We missed it! In the following few days, the weather continues not to cooperate. However, on the day we leave Fairbanks, the weather is nice. Our flight is a red-eye flight. After taking off, we finally see the Northern Light we desperately want to see on the plane. What a way to end our trip to Alaska!