Alaska 2014 – Day 12 June 25

I knew before I woke up this morning that I had a plan for rain and a plan for sunshine. I also knew that I had a 100% chance of rain, so the plan for rain won. So with it raining, there was no great hurry to get our day started, because the museums didn’t open until 9 and 11am. So we got ready, ate breakfast and then hit the road for the first museum around 9:30.

The University of Alaska of the North was first on the list and it was basically a museum that broke the state up in pieces and then showed the people, history, animals, and artifacts from different eras. One of the best items to see was the Grizzly that stood 8 foot tall and the estimated weight was 1400 pounds. It was stuffed and dead, so no close encounters happened. The next item was the mummified Bison that was dated back 36,000 years. This was also pretty cool because even though it was likely killed by a predator, the Bison’s body survived for some reason and was frozen until found some years later. Lot’s of years. After this part of the museum came the paintings or art stuff and I’m not really into that, so we kind of blew through that part. There are a lot of talented people out there, but I’ve just never been into paintings.

The next museum though was right up my alley. The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum was packed with old cars from 1898 to 1938. Every car on the floor ran, except 3, and was driven at least once a year to ensure that it is running and functional. What a gem! If you ever make it to Fairbanks this is a must see even if you're not really into old cars, the craftsmanship of these automobiles were incredible. Things we think today are new, are just rehashed ideas from days gone by. They had three electric cars on the floor built in the 10’s and 20’s that could be driven 70 miles on a single charge. Hell, even the modern cars today can’t hardly do that, with the exception of the Tesla. They had a Stanley Steamer on the floor. So how many miles to the gallon of water did they get? Any guesses? 1 mile per gallon of water. There was so much to see and so much to drool over that it was sensory overload. I did wonder, but didn’t ask, what was the value of all the cars together on the floor ?

Ok, so after these two museums, we called it a day and came back to the B&B to watch the final game between UVA and Vanderbilt. It was a very tight game and very well played for the most part, but UVA came up 1 run short. Tip your hat to Vandy on the win and maybe next year will be UVA’s turn.

Tomorrow we pack our bags and drive back to Anchorage to setup for Friday’s departure. So I doubt I will have many pictures tomorrow unless something comes up out of the blue. The other sad part is that it is forecast to rain from Fairbanks to Anchorage, so that will also make traveling fun. Friday we will tour around Anchorage all day and then catch a flight out at 10:06pm Alaska time or 2:06am east coast time. I bet we will be a couple of tired puppies when we touch down at Dulles at 11:30am Saturday morning. Temperature wise it will also be a body shock for us. I actually bought me a short sleeve shirt here just for the flight home because all I have with me is long sleeve cold gear made by Under Armor.

That’s it for now with the exception that right at this moment in time I feel like I’m trying to come down with a cold. Err, this will not make me happy. I will know for sure in the morning, but let’s just hope it’s allergies.

Pictures of the Day