Monday, July 10 - Fairbanks

Today we changed to the Bridgewater Hotel in the heart of downtown. It has a lovely flower garden and is located on the Chena River. It is famous as hosting President Harding in 1923, infamous as Will Rogers and Wiley Post spent their last night here prior to the plane crash that killed them both in 1935.  We recited some of the quotes we remembered by Will Rogers, as Reed had impersonated him in Reed's fourth grade history project. "I never met a man I didn't like."  "I don't belong to any organized politcal party. I'm a Democrat."

It was a beautiful day in the mid-70s. We wandered around town, enjoying the views and all kinds of little treasures such as the Fairbanks Community Museum and Dog Mushers Museum, the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race Headquarters, the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics Headquarters (taking place in Fairbanks next week), and the weekly market where we shared a reindeer hot dog. Dinner was at Big Daddy's BBQ, a place featured on the TV show 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.'  Bryn's favorite stops of the day were the Doyon Corp headquarters and the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center - more baskets and other fascinating cultural items from the far north.
http://www.morristhompsoncenter.org/
It feels odd typing this now as the boys drift off to sleep with the sun is still shining brightly outside.