Fairbanks, Alaska

After finishing our awesome hike up and down Mount Healy, it was time to continue our drive to Fairbanks, Alana's hometown! But first, we dominated some Subway and then went tacky souvenir shopping haha!


Fairbanks is awesome! Alana lives up on a hill (more like a mountain) and on clear days you can Mt. McKinley! Alana's home is beautiful! Her dad built it! They have a huge yard, a massive garage, a big garden that my mom would just love, a big freezer for all of their meat (yay for halibut fishing!), and a pet goose! Hah the goose's name is "Alvin, the goose that won't die". they also have their moose heads, bear hides, and stuffed fish hanging in the hallway. So Alaska :)

Alana drove me around town and showed me the University of Alaska Fairbanks (beautiful!), her high school, and the Alaskan Pipeline (my engineering mind LOVED it).  We also stopped by the Great Alaskan Bowl Company and I bought a serving bowl carved out of Alaskan birch hardwood. 






We also drove to North Pole, Alaska! Yes, there is a city in Alaska named North Pole (and Alaskans refer to it as "North Pole", not " The North Pole"). North Pole lives up to it's name though, with candy cane striped light poles lining the streets, a reindeer farm, a huge Santa statue, and of course, Santa's house! Alana and I may or may not have sat on Santa's lap and talked about our big girl jobs. It was kind of awkward. 


For dinner, Mrs. Clooten cooked up our shrimp! We boiled some and then battered and fried others. It was delicious! The shrimp sure didn't last long! Mr. Clooten helped me pack up some frozen halibut to take back home to Atlanta, and he was super generous and offered me moose meat and bear meat too. Yes please! Then we all played a few rounds of pinochle. It was intense, and it's a difficult game to learn, but oh so fun!

I had a four hour delay at the airport in Fairbanks trying to get back to Atlanta. BUT I met the daughter of Dr. Joseph Mayo Pettit, who was the 8th President of Georgia Tech from 1972-1986. He was the President when the President's Scholarship Program was started!  I love traveling in Georgia Tech gear, you meet the most incredible people!

Must I say that my trip to Alaska with Alana was incredible? Many many thanks to Alana and her family for having me to their home, and for so much more!