We had a wonderful mix of snow, sun, cold and moderate (a relative term) temperatures during our Alaskan adventure.
The suitcases are on the bed and we're starting to fill them. One is going to be packed fully with our heavy winter gear that came in very handy over the past sixteen days. We'll store it away for the time being, with hopes of using it again somewhere down the line on another winter adventure. We were curious as to what winter up here is like. We now know, and we love it!
Because we had checked off everything on our "to do" list, yesterday was a pretty low-key day. We actually spent the better part of the afternoon at the movie. When I say the better part of the afternoon, I mean it. We saw "The Batman" which was close to three hours long. I guess it was well done, but it wasn't exactly our type of movie. We were quite pleased when the credits rolled.
After the movie we did enjoy some bbq at Big Daddy's, which claims to be the "Northern Most Southern BBQ"! Not only is it the northern most, it's also really good. It, along with two other (Pagoda in North Pole and The Cookie Jar in Fairbanks) places we as ate had been featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive In's and Dives.
If you've going to eat.........
it might as well be good bbq!
Guy tested, Guy approved!
After eating we drove a few miles out of town to get a glimpse of the Alyeska Pipeline. The 800 mile pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay above the Artic Circle to Valdez. It crosses three mountain ranges and more than 500 rivers and streams. At peak production in 1988 it was pumping over 2,000,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It's estimated that over 40 billion gallons of crude oil remain on the north slope and offshore.
There's a lot of potential domestic oil that can flow through that pipeline behind me........just saying!
Growden Park isn't quite ready for baseball yet. There's a lot of snow on the field, bleachers and in the parking lot. It's the summer home of the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks, a summer team made up of top college players. The alumni list of who has played for the Goldpanners includes Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemmons. Since 1906 they have played the Midnight Sun Classic on June 21 (the summer solstice). The game starts at 10:30 PM and is played without artificial lighting. Baseball America has ranked the Midnight Sun Classic as one of the top ten baseball experiences.
It's time to close the books on this adventure. We're eternally grateful for all of our travel opportunities, and new memories of the great time we had experiencing Alaska in the winter!
