Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
September weather: Average temps of 55°/35°F. Average precip of 1.1″.
Possible Plans
Stan is a big fan of antique cars (meaning pre-War, and the earlier the better), so we’ll be visiting the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, 212 Wedgewood Dr. I find these places and he loves them. I was surprised to find that I enjoy the antique automobiles as well–although my attention span for them isn’t as long as Stan’s! Admission $10. Docent-led tour $21. I’m checking with them to determine how far into September they’re open.
University of Alaska Museum of the North recommends at least three hours for a visit–and I think that’s probably minimal. There’s a Gallery of Alaska and an Alaska Art Gallery as well as rotating exhibits. An Alaska Dinosaur exhibit opened in May–I hope it’s still there. Open 9 am – 5 pm. Admission $12. Movie ticket $5.
Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center, 101 Dunkel St., has an exhibit on life in interior Alaska including lifesize dioramas. Open 8 am – 5 pm. Films are shown at 9 am, noon, 2 pm, and 4 pm. Free.
Chena Hot Springs Resort. We also want to see the Aurora Ice Musuem. Tours are 11 am, 1pm, 3 pm, 5 pm, 7 pm. Tickets $15.
Running Reindeer Ranch
Palace Theater presents The Golden Heart Revue. I sent an email to ask how late into September they’re producing the show. The theater is in Pioneer Park’s Gold Rush Town. Show time: 8:15. Tickets $22.
Breweries
There are actually two breweries in Fairbanks. I suspect Stan will want to go to both of them.
HooDoo Brewing Company, 1951 Fox Avenue. The taproom hours are Tuesday-Friday, 3-8pm. They only do tours on Saturdays, but the taproom and brewhouse have an “open layout”–I suspect that means we’ll get to see even if we can’t have a tour!
Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling Co. is in Fox, about 10 miles north of Fairbanks. They’re open Monday-Thursday 4pm-10pm and Friday 4pm-11pm. They’re celebrating OKTOBERFEST while we’re there (Thursday and Friday nights, 7:00 pm), including live Polka and Bluegrass music (hopefully not both at the same time).
Tourism Information
TripAdvisor Top Things to do in Fairbanks
Download the Alaska App (iTunes)–it’s “an interactive Alaskan Discovery Guide”. It has wildlife sighting sharing, weather cams, suggestions for wildlife viewing spots, aerial video–it’s also free.
Aurora Viewing
I really want to see the Northern Lights–and am prepared to stay up all night to do it! I did some research about the aurora and here are some interesting sites to read:
University of Alaska Fairbanks FAQ and Aurora Forecast
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather