Alaska Journal: 06/16/02: Fairbanks to Seward

Fairbanks is so far north that they were going to have 21:45 minutes of daylight today (and it was not even the longest day). The weather was unexpectedly work as it was already 69° at 9:00AM. On the agenda for today was a visit to a gold dredge where we would pan for gold, visit the Alaska Pipeline, and then fly back to Anchorage and finally a bus ride to Seward where we would board the ship.

Because we are having a buffet lunch so we decided to have a SlimFast bar and coffee for breakfast in the hotel room. We had packed up and left our luggage outside our room before 7:00 AM so all we had on the bus was carryon bags. We boarded another bus and were off to pan for gold. The trip took us near North Pole, Alaska, home of the Santa Clause House. We were heading for Gold Dredge Number 8, a national historic site is the only dredge in Alaska open to the public. We got a tour of the dredge, and then panned for gold. Denise found about $6 in gold flakes and i found about $3.

We then had a "gold miner lunch" which consisted of stew, biscuits, and a muffin served family style. Then we stopped by the Alaska Pipeline for a few photos and then off to the airport for our trip back to Anchorage.

Yet another airport security check with all its hassles and we were on board the short 1 hour flight back to Anchorage. Once on the ground, we found the HAL folks who lead us to another bus for a 3 hour scenic trip to Seward. Richard Ward was our bus driver and he did a nice job of staying on the winding, heavy traffic road to Seward while pointing out goats, tidal flats, eagles, and other points of interest.

Since our flight had been late to leave Fairbanks, we arrived at the Seward dock just at the passengers on the ms Statendam were attending a lifeboat drill. We went through the processing line, medal detectors and were finally on the ship.

Once on board, we were greeted by the cruse staff who sent a porter with us to find our room. We had booked the second largest type room on the ship so it was very nice. It had a king size bed, large veranda, seating area, large bathroom (with tub), separate dressing area, and a bar.

After finding our cabin, we discovered that dinner was at 8:30 which gave just a few minutes to find the dining room. Dinner was open seating due to it being the first day and many people did not have the luggage in their rooms yet. We got our first view at the wonderful food selection with Denise picking crab legs (which the kitchen had already cracked open for easy eating) and I had a very good New York strip steak.

Being tired from our long day, we returned to our cabin to unpack and go to bed. When we got there, all of our luggage was in our room and the bed had been turned down with chocolates on the pillows. I think I could get used to this!

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