Sunny Day for Sightseeing, Fairbanks Ghost Town, Sandhill Cranes

It was a few minutes after 7 when I got up this morning, Friday, Feb. 23^rd, after laying awake for almost an hour. I was happy to wake up though because one of my dreams was about work. Both Bill and I were entangled in that web, dealing with that crap, so wakefulness was like a fresh retirement all over again! It was 32F and Black Beauty’s windshield had been visited by Jack Frost.

Nice quiet drive on Az 82 to Fairbanks

Because of the later night last night and downloading my pictures seemed to take forever, I had no patience to publish. It was 10:30 when I went to bed and that is late for me. I know I dropped right off with my warm little snuggle bum leaning up against me. The sheets felt cold so I curled up into a ball for a while, circulating the heat.

I made my tea and sat to finish my post from yesterday. Downloading was better was not as fast as it has been here. That meant no early walk, my toes say ‘thank you’. Bill was up before 7:30 and made his coffee before joining me. We read blog posts and comments before I halved our grapefruit. I’m glad we have friends here to help me eat the lemons I brought from the KOA. I gave Laurel 2 last night.

We walked back into Fairbanks along this short lane

I should take her suggestion and put them in my water for a change in taste. Bill was doing some banking online and I went up to change our sheets. We have one nice warm fuzzy fitted sheet so it went on. Now that our nights are cooler, we/I will appreciate it more. We only have a sheet and a duvet on top and that seems to do the trick for us. I may be able to snag a washer tonight around 6 to wash the sheets that I removed.

Around 10:00 I began cooking our bacon and eggs for breakfast and then we cleaned up the dishes. As we were about to head out the door, Scott came over to ask Bill if he had a hose or something (things I don’t get involved in) to help him solve a problem with his trailer. Then we hopped in the truck and drove to see the Fairbanks Ghost Town we’ve heard about.

The only building that was accessible

O-k-a-y……….it wasn’t quite what we expected and have to admit that we were disappointed. Only the Schoolhouse was accessible and as nicely set up as it was, maybe I’ve seen too many already. The things for sale in there were a ridiculous price so other than walking the grounds and dropping a donation in the post at the gate, it was a ‘been there, done that’ kind of thing for us. There was a bulldozer and lots of pylons laying around which really took away from the ‘ghost town’ it was supposed to portray.

Historic town of Fairbanks
Occupied from 1881 to 1973
This town was founded during the Tombstone silver rush
It is interesting that in 1884, 74 male residents populated Fairbanks
1910 - 40 households/242 residents
1920 - 37 households/177 residents
1930 - 72 residents

now that is one old sharpener
and yet this type really hasn't changed much

This isn't new to me
I attended one room school houses as a child
Although we weren't allowed to wear a hat

I don't know why, but this gathering of trees appealed to me

From there, Bill surprised me by asking for the directions to see the Sandhill Cranes that Ken gave me yesterday. We drove through Tombstone, which we saw last winter, without stopping today and followed the directions to the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. Well, let me tell you………that rough dirt road was totally worth it. As we’re driving close to the turn off, we could see 100’ of cranes flying off in the distance. Hurry, hurry!

This first impression was as jaw dropping for me as Dante’s View, Death Valley and perhaps even the Grand Canyon. I couldn’t stop saying “Oh my God, OMG!” We walked as close as we could and we both began snapping photos. Bill with his telephoto lens and me with my camera phone. Darn it! I wish my camera was fit to use, I would have loved the zoom feature for this. We hung around for at least 30 minutes before heading back home.

The sandhill cranes spend the nights standing in the shallow water to evade predators
During the day, they fly out for food
They return to Whitewater Draw in the afternoon again
Each winter more than 20,000 cranes frequent this area

The winds have picked up and although it was reading 60F and total sunny skies, it seemed to go right through me. Oh, and it wasn’t a good hair day. I took my cowboy hat but no way was it going to stay on my head. Back home, Bill and I took a walk around the park and on the way back I meant to check out the laundromat here. I forgot. Now that I’m inside again, with a nice cup of hot creamy tea, I may wait until tomorrow to do a load of laundry.

Bill took many really nice pictures with his zoom
So, I'm borrowing these 3

again a picture does not do it justice
If you haven't been, GO!

We sat with our books and dozed a bit and soon enough it was time to start making supper. Again, with the winds, we changed our original plans of barbecuing. Instead we agreed on a poor man’s supper. Tube steak and pasta. I steamed some fresh spinach and cooked some corn for Bill. It was filling, fast and worked in a pinch. With the dishes cleaned up, I sat down at my laptop to sort through the many pictures I took today.

Bill reads about the area and I'm still amazed at the background of gray

Tube steak and mac and cheese

If you haven’t seen the Fairbanks Ghost Town, you won’t hear a recommendation from me to see it. If you’re driving past, yes, stop in. Otherwise, between October and February, keep on going and find Whitewater Draw instead. You won’t be disappointed. We had a great day today and saw some very cool birds! We hope yours was a good one as well.

Thank you for ‘flying’ in. I’d love to hear from you.