The best thing about Fairbanks, for me, has to be the University of Alaska Museum of the North. A combination of a natural history and art museum, it has so much information about Alaska's people and the wildlife. I found it fascinating. Too bad I didn't have much time there.
Downtown Fairbanks felt like a different world from the university grounds. Most of the people in this city work in the gold mines apparently, so the streets have an industrial look to them. However the downtown area had several interesting little shops (though mostly souvenirs) and a couple of random antique and craft stores with a distinctly local flavour (meaning to say the shops look like they're run out of someone's shed in the back yard). To find anything in them you'd basically have to poke around in the corners and hunt through assorted trays, shelves, bins and even a bathtub. Hours of fun :) A lot of bums in the area unfortunately. But they seemed mostly harmless. Apparently there's a bit of a drug and alcohol issue here. One lot asked us if we could spare some cash, or a cheque even, heheh.
We stayed 2 nights in Fairbanks but honestly, we only needed one. Not a whole lot here unless you visit the arctic circle, which I didn't cos it just wouldn't be the same without snow. Perhaps you need a local to show you around the city. However, we did visit a lake to just hang out and relax. And we went to the North Pole. Well, to the city of North Pole anyway. Cute, cheesy. There was a santa claus house (santa was actually home and available for photos) and candy striped lampposts. And here's a sampling of the street names : Santa Claus Lane (of course), Mistletoe Drive, Snowman Lane, Frosty Avenue, St. Nicholas Drive, Sleighbell Circle, Kris Kringle Drive. Honestly, I'm not making this up.
