Aurora Borealis
Thursday, June 28 |
| No, we did not get to see the northern lights -- it doesn't get dark enough, but on our trip to the university yesterday we got a fascinating lecture/multi-media show on the science of the aurora borealis. It explained why the lights are typically yellow-green, but occasionally such a bright red that they have been misconstrued as distant forest fires. This led me to ponder why as children we had two small pups, one tan and one black, named Aurora and Borealis, called auri and bori for short. The names were not based on the colors, but then again we had sheep named Alcibiadies and Beelzebub, so go figure. |
| The University museum is small but impressive and about to undergo a 31 million dollar facelift. Most impressive is the preserved carcass of a 36,000 year old Bison (no typo there) named blue babe which was preserved all that time in the perma frost and discovered in 1979. It is hard to think that old babe is just old enough to know when those first stragglers made it across the Bering Straight. The skin is strangely blue, the result of a chemical reaction which I can't quite recall, but otherwise so real looking that you could imagine it next to the recent trophies on the wall of the Captain Bartlett saloon. |
| A most moving exhibit, complete with video, described the relocation of the Aleut peoples during World War II. I was not aware that there were relocation camps on the Alaskan panhandle. One was a deserted mining camp and another a deserted cannery. The buildings were so decrepit and the weather so cold that as many as 25% of the inhabitants died in these makeshift shelters. Moreover, while the Japanese Americans in the "lower 48" were released as early as 1943, these poor Aleuts were detained until the very end of the war, and then returned to the islands where their houses had been looted or destroyed by Americans who had been stationed there. |
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| So far Fairbanks has been surprisingly warm, dry and flat. I had read about the warm part, but the flat is a puzzle. The local hills are minuscule, even though Mt. McKinley (where we head tomorrow), the highest mountain in North America, is only 150 miles away. |
| Yesterday we checked out of the rather depressing Captain Bartlett Inn on the airport strip and moved into the newest hotel in town, a Marriott, all-suite hotel with pool, breakfast buffet included, and river views, all for a mere ten dollars more. Down by the water's edge we got talking with a local woman who was deploring our new hotel. "They're bringing Anchorage to Fairbanks!!" she declared. "It's going to spoil everything." In truth the six story hotel does seem conspicuous in a town where most buildings are only a story or two, and half the "downtown" is still dirt parking lots full of pick-up trucks. We didn't dare tell her that we werenot only staying there but liked the place.. It is a rather sad downtown with all the economic momentum in the malls. Today we had to head out to one just to get videotape for my video camera. |
| The hotel was filled yesterday with the entourage of James Brown who performed last night at the local ice hockey rink (Brown himself did not stay at the Marriott). The hotel staff was so excited about this event that we decided to join in the swing and went to the concert -- something neither of us would have done at home. Brown, now 68, stayed on stage for an impressive two hours, backed up by a rather inspired group of instrumentalists and a far less memorable quartet of singers. In retrospect, our evening beer at the hokey Captain Bartlett seemed more in keeping with life in a pioneer community, but both venues reflected the seven-to-one male/female ratio of this still frontier town. |
| We have had numerous discussions with various locals about whether or not to go on the Riverboat excursion, which all the big tour groups take. All the locals tell us we should, and so we are. One taxi driver said he took the trip on his honeymoon. The woman who deplored the arrival of Anchorage in Fairbanks insisted she had been twice, taking her own (emphasis) sister. Would she have done that for $40 if it wasn't worth it??!! We'll see... |
| That's all from Fairbank's own Cafe Latte, where the login password is "mocha." |
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