Riverboat Discovery, Fairbanks

We got to the Chena River State Campground (which is right in Fairbanks) just at the right time this morning to score an electrical/water site. There are only about 10 with hook-ups in the park. We booked it for the next four nights and settled in. It is in a really nice forested area with lots of privacy and dog walking room. We can bike most everywhere we want to go.

After lunch we biked about 2.5 miles down the road to Discovery Landing for our 2.5 hour tour on the Riverboat Discovery. It is rated the #1 boat tour in North America and I can see why. The business is family run with a lot of pride. It included not only a ride on a huge sternwheeler (lots of lovely homes along the river);

but watching a bush pilot take off and land on the river right in front of us;

a visit to the home and kennels of the late Iditarod Champion Susan Butcher and her husband Dave Monson (Dave talked to us about dog sledding, the training, care and demonstrated how they train them in summer using an ATV);

Puppies:

Very nice facility:

Going for a training run pulling an ATV:

Cooling off after their run:

a visit to an Alaskan native village where they talked about their culture and showed us beautiful fur garments, cabins, fish wheels, fish smokers, a dog yard, etc.

There were beautiful flowers and some garden plots. Vegetables grow really well and really huge here due to the very long summer days.

It rained lightly most of the day, but that didn’t interfere too much with the tour. It was such a good experience that we decided to book their El Dorado train and gold mining tour for this Wednesday.