Dear Kids,
Today was our first full day in Fairbanks.
Today we got up and went to The Bakery Restaurant. It was pretty awful, especially compared to the The Cookie Jar from yesterday. The service just awful…at some point our server just disappeared and some other dude came and said he was now or server…very odd. No one was really in a good mood either, so that probably didn’t help with our opinion of the restaurant. But I think general consensus was we never need to go back to this place.
Once we were fed (albeit not sated), we headed over to Pioneer Park to check things out. It was a nice little park with an all-you-can-eat restaurant in one corner adjacent to a duck pond, a road lined with log cabins with local artists hawking their wares, to museums, to a mini golf course. Since we got their a bit too early (nothing was really open yet), we went into the one shop that was: Just Originals. The proprietor was an eccentric to say the least. He had a dane the size of a small pony, and Ima got a few pics with him. The owner also had a bird that he rescued, and let you kids feed it.
After feeding the bird and hearing the artist’s yarns about life in Alaska, we walked over to the Pioneer Museum. It was interesting. They had a lot of artifacts on display. SBR was particularly impressed with the children’s dolls in the case. Ima also was very interested in the native Alaskan information. We bought postcards and some magnets after speaking with the lady at the counter for a very long time.
Once we were finished with the museum, the park was now fully open, and we headed over to buy tickets for a round of miniature golf. Ima hung out and met with the aunt-in-law of a student in SBK’s class at school. That was kind of neat to meet someone we sort of knew from the “Lower 48.” Once the round of golf was over, we met up with Ima and the aunt-in-law. SBK and SBE got ice cream (SBK dropped hers, so I bought you another one); SBR got shaved ice, and we all drank ample water. The aunt-in-law had to get home to put the baby down for a nap, so I took you kids to the playground while Ima ran on a path that followed the Chena.
Now came the real reason we decided to house sit instead of just getting a hotel…we wanted live like the locals and experience another city as if we lived there. So, what did we do? We went to Costco of course. You can tell a lot about a city by the way they shop, and what we learned was they aren’t so different from us…except they were a lot friendlier and calmer. And there were way less people in this Costco than in the one in Silver Spring!
We finally returned home after a long day at the park and in Costco. Ima and SKE went out and watered the garden (one of the tasks we are expected to do while we’re staying in this house. In the evening, I headed back down the mountain and over to Pioneer Park go for a run on the same path Ima did. Even though it was late, it was very bright out, and there were plenty of people out running and biking.
On my way home after my run, I stopped at Fred Meyer to pick up some stuff we didn’t buy at Costco.
Finally, it was time for bed!
Love Aba
