Our late night feast and the painfully slow uploading of yesterday's photos meant it was another late night for me, so I slept in a bit. I woke, in contrary to yesterday, to a cloudy day with hazy sunshine, and it turned out to stay that way for the majority of the day. My first job of the day was actually to go through the hundreds of leaflets (well, maybe not hundreds) that I had picked up from the visitor centre yesterday. Nearly every day between now and the 18th November is planned, and I reckon I have a few days to hire one of Billie's bikes and just go off exploring!
I also attempted to make my own pancakes for Breakfast; I wanted to try again after last night's failures. It turned out to be a bad decision; they didn't burn, but instead got stuck to the pan and all I achieved were 'bits here' and 'bits there' prompting me to make a quick walk to Sam's Sourdough Cafe and contrary to the name, order a stack of proper buttermilk pancakes. It turned out that one of them had burned, so my question is "Who can cook properly?"
I haven't yet commented on the prices of fuel, quite possibly because it hasn't seemed appropiate in the blog thus far. Today's diesel price in a local 'Tesoro' garage- a name I'm not familiar with in England- was $4.17, which is about £2.57. An extraordinary price, compared with the UK. The petrol is no better- $3.89, or £2.39. Fuel has always been expensive here in Alaska, because it's economy relies so much on it.
Feeling slightly tired from yesterday's long walk, I aimed to explore Pioneer Park today; a green space on the edge of the CBD. The walk to it was mainly along highways that seemed a little more busy and 'city-like' than yesterday. Golden and very crisp were my thoughts on the alpine trees that decorate the edges of the highways and offer walkers a chance to turn their heads away from the monotomy of vechicles. Despite the fact I was wrapped up in all three layers, I was generating quite a lot of body heat and soon the outer shell as it is called wasn't needed.
I entered Pioneer Park with an immediate feeling of completion and finality. In the summer season, the park offers temporary residencies for businesses, and also in operation are fairgrounds, mini-railway tours, and outdoor play equipment. My visit today was too late to see all this activity, so it seemed a little like a ghost town. It was nice, however, to stroll around without worrying if you're getting in people's photos or whether you're bumping into young children. On display still, were inuit artwork, very similar to the ones I saw outside the Jade Shop in Girdwood.I was pleased to see at least one musuem still open; the Pioneer Air Musuem. My first thoughts that it was going to be a tiresome collection of aviation equipment were proved wrong; they had slate boards and other historic school equipment, a display of historic house-hold items and a rather extensive display on Alaska's popular gold mining. The lady on the desk knew some parts of England; she has recently visited Malham- where I was filming a couple of months ago- and took note of Yorkshire's pastoral farming industries. On my way out, I noticed a rather interesting vechicle: an early 1900s Ford. I know a couple of people who might know a lot more about this than me!
The rest of the park, I thought, was designed a little like the 'Pop Eye Village' that I visited when I was in Malta. Multicoloured wooden log huts, small little windows with wooden slats, and wooden walkways. Each one had been previously occupied in the early 1900s and then brought to the park to continue it's owner's legacy. Apart from these small huts, was the 'Nenana' - quite a large vessel on display- and just outside the aviation musuem, quite a large plane. Amongst these boats, huts and planes, were large green spaces for recreation including outdoor play equipment for the young children. And indeed, despite the 'closed' signs, there was a family or two also enjoying the tranquility.
I ventured up 'Airport Way' in search for a bite to eat, but McDonalds and Pizza Hut weren't appetizing for me. Across the road was Denny's; a family restaurant chain that operates 1600 outlets across the US, Mexico, New Zealand and Japan, amongst others. The one I dined in actually was the nothern most Denny's in the world. I just happened to order before rush hour; Benjamin had just took my order for a turkey/tomato burger when a table of 10 arrived and several couples. Having worked in a similar environment for a year, I know how the staff must have been feeling, but I was a bit surprised to see that not one of them at anytime in my field of vision was smiling. (The golden rule of waitoring?) Maybe competing opposite a rather busy McDonalds Drive-Thru is tough on the self motivation. The meal was nice and I treated myself, for the first time I reckon on this scholarship, to a milkshake. It seems that milkshakes have to include icecream over here!
On my way back- I noticed this sign. I wouldn't agree- not yet, anyway. It's not been awfully cold, even as I've popped out the hostel in the evenings. But my gloves and hat are on standby!
It's an early night for me tonight, as I'm up early to watch the start of the Equinox Marathon tomorrow- a big day for Fairbanks' sporting community.
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