For a couple weeks during the beautiful month of August my husband was able to take some vacation time. Now if you don't know August is a gorgeous month here in Alaska. It's cooler and sometimes rainy, the mosquitoes aren't as fierce, and you'll often get some really nice sunny days out of it. So we decided to spend his vacation here in Fairbanks. The plan was to get out and see the area, catch up on some stuff, and get the cars/house ready to go before winter hits.
Our stay-cation started out with a couple hikes. The first was to Creamer's Field, a migratory waterfowl refuge, sitting on 2,200 acres of state owned land. It's a beautiful and easy walk. There are a couple trails to choose from. We walked the 1 mile Borealis Trail loop.
Our second hike was to Angel Rocks. I've been wanting to do this hike since we moved here a couple years ago but at the time I wasn't physically capable of making it. Angel Rocks is a 3.5 mile trail. It starts on even ground but then sharply climbs up about 900 ft. At the top the elevation is 1,750 ft and the view is worth the 2 hours it took us to get to the top.
After the hike to Angel Rocks we took a few days to recuperate, because lets face it that hike was killer on the legs! We got some projects going that we've been wanting to do around the house (more info to come in a different post), replaced the struts on the hubster's car and rotated my tires while we were at it.
The next adventure we had during our Stay-cation was a trip to a couple of the neighboring towns. The first was Salcha. It's only half an hour from Fairbanks and has this cute little place called the Knotty Shop that has some adorable knick-knacks and souvenirs. The building itself is pretty cool because of all of the knotted, burled wood. There were also some "animals" on the front lawn made out of wood. The one pictured is of a mosquito.
The second neighboring town we went to was on our way back to Fairbanks. It's a little town with a population of just over 2,000. A cute place where light poles are decorated like candy canes and you can stop by and hang out with 8 reindeer. Have you guessed it yet? If you guessed we went to NORTH POLE, ALASKA!... You were right. It was so much fun and even though there are still a few months till Christmas I am ready to start celebrating Christmas right now, after going there. Of course I'm going to enjoy fall first but still, it was awesome. We stopped at Santa Claus house and looked around. It's pretty much a big Christmas store filled with t-shirts, Christmas trees, decorations, a sweets store, and a toy section. You can even find Santa and Mrs. Claus there throughout the week. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the reindeer because it started to storm so they all went inside (I can't blame them because that rain got crazy). But we fully intend on going back closer to the holidays for more. Though not too close to the holidays because we were told that the line to see Santa can get insane. On average the wait time to see him is 4 hours!
The last stop on our Stay-cation was to Pioneer Park here in Fairbanks. It's a cute little tourist spot. It has a bunch of shops and museums here in. The museums are mostly about the history of Alaska and the area. One of the museums is inside of a large boat! There is a carousel, mini-golf, and a couple trains as well. One of them was the original No. 1 engine from 1905, and it's still chugging along. My husband would tell you that riding the train was his favorite part. We stayed for a good part of the day and had a lot of fun. We hung on during the light rain but once it started pouring we headed home.
All in all I would have to say that our Stay-cation was a success. We finally got to explore the area, had time to relax, start my fall semester of college, and get some much needed stuff done. I think we're ready for winter now!
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