This picture is of the Sternwheeler "Discovery II" which took us on our trip down the Chena River earlier today.
A humorous account of the different types of toilet seats used in the great white north and why.
Check out the cross-dresser in the centre of stage
The theatre was originally a saloon back in the day 
The final event for the day was "The Palace Theatre" and the performance "The Last Frontier"
Fairbanks Pioneer Village
A steam shovel 
another drilling machine
It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! 
Here are the fish chefs, they are doing salmon, halibut and cod.
The Salmon Bake is held at the Fairbanks Pioneer Park 
Our next stop of the day was the all you can eat "Alaskan Salmon Bake" Mmmmmm Good!!
A retired pig. It is a device that is put into the pipeline to clean was off the inside. It also can tell if the pipe is getting rusty on the inside. They are launched at a station and then taken out at another. There are 10 pump stations along the 800 miles of pipeline.
And a fine day it has been!!!!
Our next stop was the Alaskan Pipe Line which was built between 1974 and 1977 at a cost of 8 billion dollars. In twenty years, more than eleven billion barrels of oil have gone through the pipeline. 
This is the engine of our little train that took us into the gold mine
An old drill rig 
Here it is!!
Gold is heavy and settles to the bottom of the pan - a tedious job, but between the 2 of us we came home with $25.00 USD worth of gold in a $50.00 USD necklace and pendant to show it off.
Here is Allan at work panning for his bit of gold
The large pieces of rock are removed and then the miner sets to work panning for gold 
It is forced into the sluice box by water 
The ore is dumped into a bin and later transferred to a sluice box 
These trees are growing on permafrost - they are very small and yet could be up to 60 years old or more
Ore skip which brought the ore out of the mine to surface. It is stockpiled for processing 
A boiler which provides steam to produce power for the mine 
A miner panning for gold in the creek outside of his cabin 
Inside a mine shaft
Miner's Tent
Preserved animal bones found during the mining process
A guide demonstrating their mining process
The guides resembled the times by being dressed in full costume and character 
We were given a ride on an old train to the mine site 
Following lunch we were escorted by motor coach to the Eldorado Gold Mine 
We are standing in front of the Inuit Statue in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska
We went to Big Daddies for lunch - good food and reasonable prices
The Alaskan Brewing Company makes a great brew. We were directed to it by a Conaseur of fine beer at a grocery store in Fairbanks. We enjoyed the Amber, Pale and the White. This company makes 9 different types at their brewery in Juneau.
We were on our own for lunch and since we had a free day in Fairbanks yesterday we new where we were going. Before lunch I had to stop for my puppy fix. What a cutie he was.
Air dried fish
This is the remains of the fish after it has been filleted for smoking or drying. This part of the fish is boiled and used in other food dishes. Once the water gets hot the flies leave.
Fish being smoked in the smoke house
A Caribou, you can see it has not lost all of its winter's fur 
Another form of shelter - made of sticks and branches from evergreen trees 
A portable shelter for those on the trail - hunting or fishing
A warm bed with bug netting - should be a comfortable nights sleep I would think.
A more long term cabin - an actual home for a family
A trappers refuge with just the basics - bed, table, stove. The floor is earth covered in wood shavings
A stuffed moose
This is a moose calling device - it was explained and demonstrated after she told us to call a moose you say "here moosey, moosey" 
Our guides are explaining and showing a handmade fur coat. The colours and patterns are specific to the different tribes and their place of residence.
You wonder how they cut the grass on the roof tops, actually the grass doesn't grow too tall.The roofs of several homes in the area are covered with nice green grass
A sample of tanned hides 
Many salmon fillets are hung to dry in the sun, the flies don't seem to be a concern.
Here the guide is preparing the salmon for drying and/or smoking
This is how the Chena Indians caught their salmon. The river current causes the paddles to turn, as the fish are scooped out of the water they land in baskets to later be removed for processing.
This is a native village set up in replica of an Old Chena Indian Village, the Indian tribe who would have lived here would have been the Athabascans, one of the five major native grouping that were the foundation of the early Alaskan population.
Guides do a great job in explaining the lives of their ancestors throughout the tour.
Here we are going back up the Chena River - more interesting things to do and see along the way
At the end of the Chena River we meet the Tanana River which is very silty - you can see the silt in the water in this picture below.
There is a contest every year as to when the ice will break up on the Tanana River. The breakup marks the beginning of Spring. In the year of 2008 the prize for choosing the correct date or the one closest to the date of breakup was $303,985.00!! 
David took the dogs for a run while we watched, when they were untied from their tethers they all ran to the river for a quick dunk to get cooled off.
Trail Breaker Kennel - can you imagine having to feed and exercise all of these dogs? There sure are a lot of them!
This is David Monson, he is the husband of Susan Butcher who won the Iditarod 4 times. He and their daughters, Tekla and Chisana Monson, have carried on with Trail Breaker Kennel and kept Susan's dreams alive following her death in 2006 when she passed on from a battle with cancer. http://iditarod.com/learn/susanbutcher.html and http://susanbutcher.com/ are sites of interest on this topic.
The Iditarod is sometimes referred to as the "Last Great Race on Earth" It is run from Anchorage, in south central Alaska to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast. Each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. Check out http://iditarod.com/ for more info.
Debris along the shoreline
The river is very low this year, our guide told us you could only see the very highest part of this old boat in past years.
Here is the pilot bidding us a good day from his plane
A local pilot gave us a demonstration of his skills in taking off and landing on the river 
This is the beginning of our journey - it is a lazy river
When we first arrived at the docking area we had time to look through the gift shop "The Discovery Trading Post" and get acquainted with some of our fellow travellers.
Today was the first day of our inland tour of Alaska and it got off to a great start. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. Our tour started with a ride on the Sternwheeler Discovery II down the Chena River.
When we first arrived at the docking area we had time to look through the gift shop "The Discovery Trading Post" and get acquainted with some of our fellow travellers. Today was the first day of our inland tour of Alaska and it got off to a great start. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. Our tour started with a ride on the Sternwheeler Discovery II down the Chena River.
