Alaska Adventure

Well, we aren’t in Alaska looking for gold, but we have already found some treasures. We had a nice flight from Minneapolis to Fairbanks—still plenty of snow capped peaks. 

Visited the Alaska Siberian Lend Lease monument, a piece of history I sure wasn’t aware of. Like the lend lease program with Great Britain, we had an arrangement with Russia. Between 1942 and 1945, almost 8000 planes were flown along he ALSIB supply route. From Great Falls, Montana, planes were flown through Canada to Whitehorse and Fairbanks where a red star was painted on before turning over a plane to a Russian pilot. 

The gateway to Fairbanks is the Antler Arch, made up of 100 moose and caribou antlers collected from all over interior Alaska. 

Rode a shuttle to the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. One of the riders added a little color. I didn’t ask him if he lived down the road from Fairbanks in the town of North Pole!!

Heading Home

I can’t believe we’ve been gone for over two and a half months. We are making our way home, currently in OKC, but we had a nice time in Texas on route. In Fredericksburg, we visited the Texas Rangers monument. They are still in existence, but early on they were a wild bunch. 

You may not be familiar with Buc-ee’s, it is a chain of travel centers known for clean (huge) bathrooms and many fueling positions. We stopped at one just for the adventure and it was quite an experience. The specialties are brisket, jerky, fudge, and bakery. Who could ask for more!!

Then on to College Station and the George Bush presidential library and museum. 

While visiting with friends in Houston we had our first virtual reality experience at the Ramses the Great exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We were taken on on a whirlwind tour of two of Ramses’ most impressive monuments, Abu Simbel and Nefertari’s Tomb. What fun!

And we again enjoyed the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. 

We are hoping for a turn toward spring weather as we arrive back in  MKE.