Day Six

Today was the day we could have struck it rich!

This morning we headed to the El Dorado Gold Mine. When we got there, we boarded the Tanana Valley Railroad for a ride through the original gold fields of the interior - to a present day working gold mine. We watched a demonstration on how to pan for gold - then it was our turn. We all received a bag of what could literally be a gold mine, but it was our job to discover if we had trash or treasure. We dumped the bag into a big medal bowel and began the panning process. While some of us took a little longer than others to find our gold - none of us walked away empty handed. After we collected our gold - we had it weighed. Surprisingly, Todd had the most gold with more than 21 grains. I had just more than 10. Many of the ladies had their gold put into lockets on either a necklace or a bracelet. Unfortunately, none of us hit the golden jackpot!

Our next stop was the Trail Breaker Kennel - which is home to the late Susan Butcher's Iditarod champion sled dogs. We had lunch there and heard a presentation about mushing and racing in the Iditarod and Yukon Quest. As part of the presentation, Susan Butcher's husband wanted to illustrate the attire an Iditarod racer would have to wear in order to brave temperatures as cold as 60 below zero. But for his demonstration he needed help from the audience - and before I knew it I was the person chosen. First, he put a gigantic beaver hat on my head, then he began to add more layers -including huge beaver gloves, thick boots, heavy insulated overalls and of course the biggest, warmest jacket I've ever seen. It was so hot under all those layers - that I thought I could pass out - but I survived and maybe one day I'll share those pictures - maybe.

From there we took a riverboat cruise aboard the Discovery III stern-wheeler on the Chena and Tanana Rivers - where we got a chance to learn how native Alaskans lived years ago. It was fascinating to see the clothing and shelter the people used years ago - and the ride was wonderful.

We then headed to our hotel for a night on our own.

Because tonight is the longest day of summer, there was a huge celebration going on in downtown Fairbanks. Todd and I took a shuttle downtown for the "Midnight Sun Festival"
where there were bands, vendors and great food. We ended up dining with another couple from our group and had some great Alaskan barbecue.

Today - there will be 21 hours and 50 minutes of daylight. WOW!!