freezing Fairbanks

I was expecting Fairbanks to be colder than Anchorage since it is further north, so I packed warm clothing. To my absolute surprise it was significantly warmer, up around 22°C! I peeled off some layers after checking into my hotel and I headed into town for a meal at a restaurant Morgan from the NPS had recommended. The place was packed. One difference I have noticed about America from my last visit in 1996 is the inter-racial couples – something that was distinctly in the minority then. Maybe it’s just up north? Who knows, but it’s heartening that tolerance in this country appears to have significantly increased. The next morning I picked up the hire car and headed off for my next exciting adventure - driving on the wrong side of the road. Saturday morning in downtown Fairbanks was pretty quiet so I didn’t get into too much trouble. I parked and strolled around a few streets looking in windows. Most of the shops were aimed at tourists, selling carved antlers and walrus tusks and, penis bones or oosik as they are named by native Alaskan cultures. I must have been asleep in that part of my anatomy lecture, the baculum is a whole new concept as far as I am concerned! And apparently many species have them including seals, sea lions, polar bears even cats and dogs! Oh well, you learn something new everyday!

a carved walrus oosik

I was looking into the window of a jewellery shop when the lights in the cabinet suddenly came on. I was startled at first and thought maybe it was like the toilets that flush themselves here, or the automatic taps or the movement sensors on toy displays as you walk past them in Walmart. No, it was the guy who owned the shop turning on the cabinet lights, Eric who was hugely entertained by my surprised reaction. He invited me into the shop to check out the rest of his jewelry and I ended up staying and talking with him for nearly an hour. He proved to be a font of information about Fairbanks and told me all the places to visit, and where I should go to for the fourth of July celebrations on Sunday. He was also an amateur comedian – doing standup at open mikes in a local club, so he had me laughing at most of his homemade jokes. We talked about Australia, and he, along with most other people you talk to, intends to visit sometime. By the end of our chat he asked me to go golfing or for a ride on his Harley. I politely declined both offers – motorbikes and golf are pretty far down the entertainment list for me!   

Fairbanks is spread out broadly like a picnic blanket across a low flat bowl that rises slowly to mountains to the north with hills to the east and the west and marshes to the south. The Chena River runs through the town and Eric told me that it freezes solid in the winter, so much so that you can drive a car on it. The topography contributes enormously to the climatic variability as icy polar air drains from the north into the bowl in the winter and heat and sometimes smoke from fires accumulate here during the short warm summer. Temperature inversions are reputedly the biggest on earth and the climate is generally described as subarctic. Temperatures can get as low as -51°c (-60°F) Brrrrrrrrr. On the holiday weekend it felt almost monsoonal to me with rising heat and brooding dark skies giving way to thunderstorms that cooled everything down again.

I headed to the visitor centre. It was a new building of impressive architecture with surprisingly high ceilings in such a cool climate that gave the interior space a generous and expansive feel. Outside the gardens were filled with gaily-coloured blooms, as is the norm in all municipal and domestic gardens at this time of year. Alaskans do love gardening! Inside the display was fascinating. It covered the history and culture of the area along with the wild and beautiful country surrounding Fairbanks. Interestingly the interpretive signs were only in draft form – in some cases with examples of different layouts which I thought was a very clever way of getting the display open and accessible to visitors, instead of leaving it closed until it was all totally ready. In a section that addressed contemporary culture there was a large sign declaring ‘In winter we don’t hibernate – we celebrate!’ I guess it’s all about being acclimatized.

Next I went to the farmer’s markets and was sorely tempted by all the bounteous fresh produce with the warm sun on my back as I wandered around the stalls. Suddenly the heavens opened up and a downpour Darwin would be proud of ensued, so I raced off to the car, negotiated the wrong-sided mêlée in the carpark with finesse and drove off feeling quite accomplished to find some lunch. Cafés seem well hidden in Fairbanks so I ended up in a mall, on the outskirts of town and found a surprising good salad bar, in a supermarket of all places, that satisfied my hunger more than adequately.

The next morning it was the fourth of July. A big day of celebrations here, as you can imagine. Flags were flying proudly everywhere. People were only wearing red, white and blue.  I read the Sunday paper while eating in classic diner that the man in the hire car place had suggested. It was not unlike Arnold’s in Happy Days with booths and a jukebox sitting in the corner, pinafored waitresses refilling patrons’ coffee cups, the food stacked high on the plates, everything drowned in maple syrup. On the front page of the Fairbanks Daily News Miner was that oft-quoted line from the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776…

‘We hold these truths to be self evident, That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…’ The pursuit of happiness!  – How wonderful for the concept to be enshrined in a government missive!