Farewell to Alaska

Today was my last day up here, unfortunately. I could get used to Fairbanks. Easy to say now, when it's not -40 outside. This city has one of the largest temperature differences between its all time high and low of anywhere in the world. The record high is 99 and the record low is -66. Not on the same day, though that would be cool.

Last night I drove up and saw the trans Alaska pipeline. It's just north of town and they have a little pulloff area on the road so you can get out and look at it. I was on the phone with Pete when I got there so I was describing it to him. It's not much to look at, as you can see, but the engineering behind it is pretty impressive. It can transport 800,000 barrels of oil per day. On each of the support beams the pipeline is actually on rails so it can move back and forth during earthquakes or when it expands and contract due to the heat and cold. Those engineers think of everything. It survived a 7.9 magnitude earthquake up here back in 2002 so I guess they know what they're doing too.



After the conference ended today I drove out of town about 50 miles and did a hike that was recommended. Quick side note. Jamie was unimpressed that I was going hiking alone. She thought I should stay in the car and enjoy Alaska from there. She's convinced there's a bear around every tree. I reminded her that there are mountain lions in those trees too. That didn't help. Anyway, I'm alive and well. The only wildlife I met on the trail was a couple of Twins fans from Brooklyn Park. They're everywhere. The trail went up and around a formation known as Angel Rocks. They are these rock formations that pushed out of the ground as lava welled up to the surface a long time ago.



Here's the view from the top:


It was fairly steep and a nice workout. The long daylight hours allowed me to start this hike at 7, finish around 8:45, drive back to Fairbanks (with a few stops long the way for pictures), have dinner at 10, and get back to the hotel by 11:15 without using my headlights. Very strange. In fact, it's currently 11:45 and if I were out driving right now I probably still wouldn't need headlights.

I thought it would be hilarious if there was a bear behind me in this picture. Oh, if only I knew how to use Photoshop!!


One last shot of the spectacular Alaska Range, which is between here and Anchorage, being lit up by the sun. It's a little hard to see, but trust me, these mountains look very impressive from here, and they're about 150 to 200 miles away.


I leave Alaska tomorrow. It's been fun.