Alaska P 15

Today was overcast and a somewhat cooler than yesterday. We drove to the sternwheeler Riverboat Discovery for a memorable cruise down the Chena River to where it joins the Tanana River. On the way we stopped just out of Fairbanks to watch a “Bush” Pilot demonstrate takeoffs and landings in his float plane. Other attractions included a show by a trainer and his sled dogs, an Athabascan Indian woman demonstrated how salmon are caught, cleaned, dried and smoked. We stopped at a replica Athabascan village for demonstrations with furs, dog sleds, caribou and other details of native life. It was a well-worthwhile excursion. During the village visit, it began to rain, but we were furnished with plastic ponchos, if we needed them and the rain was gentle and intermittent.

I spent the afternoon in a fruitless effort to get my computer online to update the web site. There were all the connections necessary, but I couldn’t get them to work for me. he T’s came in and I spent some time trying to contact someone in the group to coordinate their being at the park when we were to join oul local car friends.

At 5:00 PM, we all drove back to Pioneer Park and met the local car club again to drive together through a back entrance to the park for a salmon bake and a show in the theater. The food was good and plentiful — salmon, prime rib, halibut and all the trimmings. We enjoyed the play and were surprised to come out of the darkened theater into bright sunlight.

Upon arriving at our hotel, we began preparations for departing in the morning. I had some “Tour Leader” chores to complete before turning in. I was on the computer until about 11:00 PM getting some instructions typed. Not that they were complicated, but I don’t have a printer, so I had to use the one in the hotel, which complicated things a bit. It all worked out in the end. When I went to bed at that time, I could still read by the daylight coming in the window! Now, that’s hard to get used to!