Let’s start with the handsome face! Stitches are coming out and the cuts are healing. Ribs are still a little tender, but better every day. Thank you Jesus because this could have turned out so differently!
We left our cute little cabin in Healy this morning, but we decided to squeeze in one more hike before we said goodbye to Denali. The Horseshoe Lake Trail is a beautiful trail without a lot of severe elevation change – it’s more gradual which you don’t notice until you come back up 🤪 The hike starts along the Alaska Railway and then gradually makes it way down to the Horseshoe Lake.
This was a great stop with a cool stand for everyone to make the same photo the same way. Then the photos are uploaded to show an ongoing time lapse.
Hoping this link works:
We made it down to the lake, and saw the cutest baby beaver. He was fast and from the looks of this beaver dam, this little guy and family have been busy.
Then we heard some crazy chirping and squawking. This woodpecker made an amazing nest for her babies and the squawking was her babies calling for their lunch.
Love watching this two together. They don’t know it yet, but they are going to miss each other next year…
Ongoing debate: Bear or Moose?
The coastline for the Nenana River was pretty but rocky. Of course, these two just saw that as an obstacle to climb.
Back on the trail…It was just beautiful!
The burl knots (that I am now calling burl butts because they look like the trees have butts) are everywhere. We did some research and turns out that even scientists aren’t 100% certain what causes them other that it is a defense mechanism of the tree for an injury, insect damage, fungus or bacterial or an environmental stress. The Alaskan Bowl Company actually makes a birch bowl specifically from burl wood.
We hiked around the edge of the lake. Mike and I did our part to pull up dandelions. They are an invasive species here in Alaska and we’ve seen several park rangers walking the trails pulling dandelions.
So glad we came back for one more hike!
We stopped off what we are calling an Alaskan Bucky’s, Three Bears. This location was built in 2018, and it is the largest one we have found. It was an Ace Hardware, Grocery Store, mini-Costco, Liquor Store and Convenience Store.
We headed north on our way to Fairbanks! There is not a lot in between Healy and Fairbanks. But there were some cool bridges and again, the scenery was beautiful. This part of the Alaskan interior doesn’t get as much snow as other section, usually because it is too cold for the moisture to fall. This section of Alaska reminded us all of the Blue Ridge Mountains back home.
We tried to stop in the town of Nenana, but we covered the entire town win about 3 minutes. It was a really sad ghost town where 80% of the town was boarded up buildings. The train depot seemed to be only building remotely maintained.
We made it to Fairbanks and decided to stop off at the Kiwanis Club Park for our Mom’s Cafe lunch. Michael and I ate leftovers from last night’s dinners but we still had a few meals served.😁
We made to our new home for the next 2 nights. The cabin is 5 minutes from Fairbanks, and one turn off the highway, but it is like you were dropped into the middle of the woods. It is so pretty and so peaceful! And boys are thrilled to have not only their own beds, but their own bedrooms!
We got everything unpacked and settled, and all enjoyed sitting for a while in something that wasn’t moving. After almost 2 hours, Michael said “we gotta go do something” YES! That’s my boy 🤣
There is not a lot to do visitor-wise in Fairbanks. Even ChatGPT and Tripadvisor were limited in options. We were going to go downtown to walk around a park/town square/river walk area before dinner, but there were so many people literally laying on the square’s benches, we were a little nervous about the environment. Downtown Fairbanks is every downtown on Sunday evenings – not much happening. Maybe it will be better tomorrow. Truthfully, Fairbanks is a little depressing. I’m sure some of it is due to the amazing sights of Denali. It also doesn’t help that we have spent the last week in these funky little towns dotting Alaska. The big city problems, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, are very present here, much like in Anchorage. Enough reality – Pivot and Adjust!
We decided to have dinner at Pike’s Landing. Here’s what we didn’t know: 1. Pike’s Landing is on the National Register of Historical Places. Honestly, couldn’t figure out why, but apparently it has to do with the landing being used during the gold rush and Chena River access. The Landing is named after John Pike, a World War II veteran who homesteaded here after the war. He then created the landing, restaurant and hotel. Now there is also a little reindeer park.
2. Pike’s Landing Restaurant is beside Pike’s Landing Hotel which is a hot spot for the senior citizen community… which meant they were all eating with us at Pike’s Restaurant. We literally brought the average age down by 25 years. Not sure if you’ve ever waited tables but senior citizens can be, let’s say, demanding. Some of these folks – yikes! As a rule, if you are as peculiar as these folks were about your food, you should stay home and cook for yourself. The poor waitstaff! And my word, the temperature inside 🥵 It just ended up being too funny to us and we couldn’t stop laughing with every new instance 🤪
And we got some funny pictures to remember forever!
After dinner, we decided to stop off at Walmart to restock Mom’s Cafe and to get dinner supplies for tomorrow night. We are making a day trip or two tomorrow and don’t want to have to rush back for dinner in a restaurant. While we got the groceries, the boys went to wander… I told Mike they would be in sports section… BINGO
While we were sweating through dinner, we did a little research and learned that our cabin is only about 3 minutes for a viewing spot of the Alaskan Pipeline. When are we ever going to see this again? So our post-dinner/post-Walmart excursion took us to a viewing spot, just above Pump 8 of the Alaskan Pipeline!
And some wrestling…
Back at the cabin, we finished off the night by finishing our game of Garbage and then crashed. I mean it is midnight here (4 am at home), but you would never know it. When they say Alaska is the home of the Midnight Sun, there were not kidding!
Tomorrow we are off on a day trip or two to see what lies outside of Fairbanks.
Brown Family Adventures: 50 States by Graduation 
So glad Mike is doing better!
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