Monday July 5, 2010 A good day in Fairbanks

It rained last night and early this morning. After a late breakfast it stopped and the sky's cleared. It can rain and clear or be clear and rain the fastest of anywhere I have ever been except central Florida.
We started the day looking a the Alaskan Pipeline again. They had a visitors exhibit next to the real pipeline and had volunteers there to tell you about it.
We then drove to the Large Animal Research Station (LARS) owned by the University of Alaska. They do research on 3 Arctic animals; Muskox, Reindeer, and Caribou. We took a 45 minute tour where we learned about each of these animals from a guide while watching them eat. They feed them willow limbs to get them to come to the fence. There were only 4 of us on the tour so that was great. The pictures aren't good because of the fence but the experience of being that close to them was great. We learned quite a bit about each one. We didn't get close to the Reindeer which was a bummer.
I saw the red bus vehicle while we were there but couldn't get a good picture of it. Later it was set up at the campground. You can see from the picture at LARS what the unfolded side looks like. The later picture shows the canvas room structure and entry ladder. Quite a vehicle. I don't know how many people it will carry.
From LARS we went to the University of Alaska's campus where they have a good Alaskan Museum. We watched a really good an informative film about the Northern Lights or the Aurora Borealas. Then we went into the Gallery of Alaska exhibit. It was divided into the 5 different areas of Alaska; southeast, south central, interior, western Arctic coast, and southwest. It had exhibits about the past and present of each region. Of course it keyed on the most important items for the region. They have an art gallery but we were just too tired at that point.
Then we went grocery shopping and were going to Sam's club but they were closed. I did get gas at Sam's for $3.43, what a deal. Other places here are $3.49 to $3.59.
Tomorrow we have a couple of things we would like to see here before heading Denali National Park. Life is good in Alaska. 5 after 1 again, I have to stop this mess.