(I guess it was really day two, but this was the first day in Fairbanks.) To begin, I am already late. At least I am not alone. Armando and I were left at the hotel, everyone had already left for breakfast. So we had to walk. Armando decided to take the lead, giving directions. Perhaps not the best choice, as we took a wrong turn and walked for ten or so minutes in the completely wrong direction. We turned around and finally arrived at the Bakery Restaurant, where I ordered a delicious Eggs Benedict, the same as Dr. Jackson. It was delicious. We then went to Safeway to get rations for the upcoming few days.
We returned to the hotel, and at 12:30 pm, we left to go to the CRREL Permafrost Tunnel. Our tour guide, Mikhail was our tour guide, and the resident dog scientist was Ruby Tuesday. We descended about 18 meters below the ground to view ancient fossils (woolly mammoths, etc.). The ice wedges were of particular interest. The air had a distinct odor.
After, we left at around half past two, we went to visit the historical Chatanika Gold Dredge. Armando and I explored the abandoned, burned down ginormous machine. It was truly fantastic. The rusted holding tanks, littered with beer cans and bottles that lined the ladder landing, had great reverberating acoustics. We climbed up the various components of the machine. Armando got all the way to the top of the central plateau. Very fun indeed. Afterwards, I ate my lunch quite hastily as we left to go to visit the Alaskan Pipeline. On our way, we stopped at an outlook. There was an abandoned home with just the foundation, chimney, and one lonely chair remaining. We stopped and took pictures of some sparse mountains far in the distance, then moved on to the next location.
When we got to the Alaskan Pipeline, we learned about the radical advancements in pipeline engineering that were necessary in the development of the pipeline, the largest in North America. We skipped rocks on the creek that ran adjacent to the pipeline. Aidan nearly knocked me out with a misaimed toss, as we were trying to throw rocks through the pipe under the bridge that ran across the creek. After we left the pipeline, we returned to the hotel to relax before heading out for dinner. We went to the Silver Gulch. I ordered a Shirley Temple, which was nostalgic in itself, while we conversed about our favourite things. I got I.P.A. battered fish and sea salt fries and it was delicious. Then, we returned to the hotel, and Armando, Aidan, and I went for a walk downtown at around ten thirty. We saw a beaver under a bridge on our way back. Then, finally, we went to bed.