Sunrise is 2:58AM and Sunset is 12:48AM.  But the sky is never dark; the sun does not actually set as it rides along the horizon until it is time for it to rise again.

We arrived in Fairbanks from Tok on June 11 after a relatively short drive of a little more than 3 hours or 200 miles on what seemed to be the best roads yet.  We have traveled nearly 3000 miles (from Burlington, WA) and burned about 270 gallons of Diesel thus far.

One of our first stops when arriving in a new town is to visit the Visitor Information Center.  Fairbanks has a wonderful one, named Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.  We were in Fairbanks 3 years ago on a Princess Land and Cruise vacation.  There are many sights to see and do here in Fairbanks, probably will not visit some of the must see sights that we toured three years ago.

The first few days we rode bikes, toured and panned for Gold at the Gold Dredge No. 8 and kayaked around Chena Lake State Park and down the Chena River.  We struck it rich while panning for gold with a whopping $27.00 worth of Gold.  The 5.5-mile float trip down the Chena River started at Pioneer Park and ended at the Pump House Restaurant for a much deserved beer and food.  One evening we went to a outdoor concert at the University Botanical Gardens.

The weather in Fairbanks has been the best so far, with clear skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 80’s.