Hi Folks,
Sorry I have not updated in a while – we have been busy – :-)). Today is actually 6/8 and I will update you on all we have been doing.
However, first I must update you on the cranes. I made a mistake. Take a look at the picture below. These are all adults since they have the red heads. The grey is their natural color. The reason some of these are brown is that they have dyed their feathers with iron rich dirt/mud. The reason they do this is that they will blend in with nesting in the tundra – how about that!
Okay, so let’s get back to Tuesday. In the AM, I did laundry. In the PM, we went to the El Dorado Gold Mine (thanks to Bob for the tickets). The tour started out on a train and took us thru the different types of gold mining that was and still is done here (from above ground to below ground mining). At the end of the ride, we were at the “gold camp” and greeted by Dexter Clark and Yukon Yonda who told us old mining stories and described how to do sluicing.
In this demonstration, piles of dirt were dug (some from river beds, some from underground mines) and then will be put thru water, one shovel full at a time. The water is dammed and then flows down past the dirt into the sluice box where there are various ways to separate out the gold. The final step is done by hand.
Here comes the water:
And here is some of the gold found in one of the boxes:
Afterwards, we all get a chance to pan for our own gold - 
Yes, we did find some – Andy - $10.00 worth and me $4.00 – we are RICH!!! YEE-HAW!
From there we took a little ride to the Felix Pedro Monument:
Felix Pedro discovered gold in the creek (now Pedro Creek) opposite the monument on July 2 , 1902 and on many of the neighboring creeks. He discovered the greatest gold vein in this area which led to the Gold Rush of 1903 and the start of the city of Fairbanks. Today that creek still contains gold. We saw a number of people panning there:
Yes, the creek still has snow and we did not want to get too close..
From there we stopped at the Howling Dog Saloon – what a hoot. We met a couple of the locals and had a great time chatting. There is all kinds of things hanging from the ceiling. In one area there are lots of bras and I had to ask! Here is the story: to get your bra there, a girl must stand on the bar, take off her shirt, then her bra, then throw it on this metal hanger… Oh my… some were quite large.. And no I do not want to be here for that – LOL
We had supper at Carl's, Jr. According to some of the reports, it is one of the best burgers here – it was ok – The Blu Burger at the Blu Tavern in Minersville is still the best on my list..
Wednesday, June 3, we had some excitement here. Early this morning, the bird banding station and one of the fences was damaged. I cannot understand what people would get out of doing that. We took a walk back to the station, how sad!!!
Here is Andy with Ethan. Ethan is Alexis’s (my boss) son and comes to visit with us a couple times a week. Good kid.
We took a walk on some of the trails until we could not stand the mosquitoes anymore – they are out in FULL FORCE!!! Some pictures along the way (notice the water missing or going down from previous pictures).
And everything is so green:
We have many swallows here nesting and building nests. These nests are right outside our MH and they are so neat to watch (you can see their beaks or the white spot on their heads just peeking out):
When I find out more info, I will pass along.
In the evening, Andy and I took a tour of the barn. The upstairs is BEAUTIFUL! I can see why they are trying to get the funding to bring it up to code so they can open it to the public. This was one of the high WOW factors for me. We also toured the lower part where the cows were milked and housed. So much history here. The lower part is now used for storage for a number of the governmental agencies. One area of the barn had animal parts and I had to get away – the smell was very strong!
I also had a chance today to take pictures of all my beading projects. I may post here or start a jewelry blog. And I had a chance to go to Michaels and use my 50% coupons to get a book on bead crochet… maybe one of my next projects. So stay tuned.
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