Day 33: On the Riverboat Discovery III

This afternoon we went to what must be the most-visited site in Fairbanks, participating in a “must-do” activity for tourists: a boat tour on the Riverboat Discovery.  People arrived by the busload.  The boat is owned and operated by the Binkley family, a family which apparently owns much of the city.  It holds over 800 tourists for each three-hour trip, and it makes two trips per day, so you know that the Binkley are bringing in LOTS of money.

However, it was worth going.  The tour starts with a bush pilot flying his small plane over the boat and landing on the Chena River---with commentary about the importance of pilots in Alaska.  (Did you know that 1 in 6 Alaskans is licensed to fly?)  Continuing along the Chena River, the “host” provided comments on various buildings along the river.  Then the boat pulled up along the property of the late Susan Butcher (first woman to win the Ididarod), where her husband still runs Trailbreaker Kennels.  He described how they train puppies to become part of the team and demonstrated by having a team of dogs pull him around in his ATV.

Continuing on, the boat reached the Tanana River, where it turned around and then pulled into a replica of a Native village, where young guides (all actual Native Alaskan people) tell about life in early Alaska, fish camps, hunting, making clothes from hides, and so forth.  Later, there was time to walk around the island and spend some time visiting with the sled dogs and asking questions about their training and care.

Then it was back to a leisurely boat trip along the river, returning to Steamboat Landing.  On the return trip, they provided samples of some excellent salmon spread (canned salmon for sale, of course, by the Binkleys). 

This was a good way to spend a cool, overcast day.  We were told on the boat tour that Fairbanks actually gets very little precipitation annually, but we certainly saw some of it, with pouring rain for the first ten minutes or so after we boarded the boat! 

Tomorrow we will head to Denali, so we may be without cell service or internet for the coming week.