Winter Alaska

San Francisco to Fairbanks

Saw 3 great comedians at Punchline. The headline act was Ian Karmel, who talked a lot about being Jewish, being old at 39, and the mask he wears for sleep apnea (which, he says, kills his sex life because it looks like a gas mask, so he and his wife have to do it before 7 pm!) I told him the mask was an Australian invention and he was very grateful!

Very early flight to Fairbanks. 6 am ( yes, that meant I had to wake up at 3.30 am!). The jumper went on at Seattle and the coat, thermals, gloves and scarves at Fairbanks. It’s very cold here -20 min to – 9 max!

Some fast facts about Alaska:

  • Captain Cook was among the first European explorers to map the Alaskan coastline in 1778.
  • In 1784 the Russians established settlements in Alaska
  • in 1867, the US purchased Alaska from Russia for a mere two cents an acre ( that was presumably when the two countries were on friendly terms and no war was needed)
  • in 1959, Alaska became the 49th US state
  • it has a population of around 740,000, a bit larger than the Gold Coast (713,000)

Got into Fairbanks around 12:30 pm and my hotel is about 10 mins from the airport. It’s very quaint…a large moose and grizzly bear in the reception area, and a feeling of a large wooden cabin.

The hotel has a convenient (paid ) shuttle service to various locations in Fairbanks, so – after putting on extra tops, leggings, double socks and cleats on my shoes, I ventured to the Tanana Valley fairgrounds to have a look at the ice art sculptures ( the World Ice Art championships were held here last week). They were amazing!

They have multi block, double block and single block championships, and there are strict rules e.g the multi block championships must have no more than 12 sites on the one area, a maximum team size of 4 artists who have 110 hours to complete their sculpture.Here’s a sample (James, sometimes when I held camera for 3 secs like u told me to do, it turned into a video! )

The one on the middle left, called “Competition” came first in the double block; the one above, called “Run for your life” came second in the multi block, and the one on the left, called “Musical escape” came first in the single block.

Apart from lots of ski slides, there’s lots of activity for children (and adults) including table tennis and chess

And I think this is some sort of dart game. Also, I gotta say that I loved my cleats as it was pretty icy.

Was glad to get back to hotel so my hands could defrost!

awaywiththebirds

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6 responses to “Winter Alaska”

  2. Ice sculptures are always extraordinary art – and the outdoor games hilarious Sara :))xxx

  3. Well, what an experience. Sara, instead of a CV, it will be travel experiences such as these.

  4. You make me laugh Sar! Cannot imagine just how cold it is there. The ice art is incredibly fascinating – wonder how long each piece took to make ……..
    Love you (and miss you) 🙁 xxxxx

  5. So funny and very cold ! 🥶 Love the Alaska facts. Could you actually play table tennis on ice ? Xx