It was a few minutes after 7 when I
got up this morning, Friday, Feb. 23rd, 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 |
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| now that is one old sharpener and yet this type really hasn't changed much |
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| This isn't new to me I attended one room school houses as a child Although we weren't allowed to wear a hat |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Bill took many really nice pictures with his zoom So, I'm borrowing these 3 |
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| 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.
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| Bill reads about the area and I'm still amazed at the background of gray |
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| 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.