Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The Coral Princess Northbound Cruise and Land Tour Day 12

The Coral Princess Northbound Cruise and Land Tour
Bus Ride from Denali to Fairbanks

It was yet another early morning, this time though we were boarding a decidedly less interesting form of transportation, a coach bus, which would get us to our final Alaskan destination, Fairbanks. On the plus side I manage to spot more Dall Sheep from the bus and had my camera out and ready to shoot them on the mountainside before leaving Denali. Yes that's right, those little white specks on the mountainside are indeed Dall Sheep, one of the primary reasons for creating Denali National Park in 1917. 



About half way through our drive to Fairbanks, the bus made an hour long pit stop in the small town of Nenana, where the locals host the Nenana ice classic. The ice classic is an event which started in 1917 that brings locals and tourists alike, together to predict to an exact time and date when the ice on the Nenana River will break apart in the spring.

Not wanting to stray terribly far, I walked along the beach with sand that seemed to have glitter in it, explored an abandoned Alaska Railroad train car and waved to local boaters as they cruised down the river. Then it was time to hop back on the bus to make our way to our final destination in our great Alaskan vacation.  












After arriving in Fairbanks, we had the option to get out and have lunch while in the city proper. Unfortunately I didn't do too much research on Fairbanks beforehand to find out where and what the best places to see and eat at were, so after walking a few blocks we sat down at a Greek restaurant, quickly wolfed down our lunches and made it back to the bus that would take us to the hotel in time.

Unfortunately the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge is located just on the outskirts of anything interesting to see or do, but it is conveniently close to the airport, so it has that going for it. There are walking "trails" available, basically just a small loop that does have some neat small log cabins with bits of historical information plaques along the way. And unfortunately I forgot to snap a photo of the room on this one, but did manage a couple of interior shots. 

















After walking the "trails" at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside lodge I thought I'd explore the hotel next next door and get a closer look at the plane that seemed to have crash landed on top of a sweets shop. While a cool looking building, the actual ice cream and sweets shop is a little bar inside the main lobby of the hotel next door, it still delivers on the tasty ice cream, but in a decidedly less interesting building.






Next up, the second day in Fairbanks including the Gold Dredge 8 and Riverboat Discovery Tour.


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