My drive up to Fairbanks, Alaska

[mthq]

Well well we meet again! So rather than taking the 30 minute flight, I decided to take out the rambler and drive my way up the last frontier to the golden heart city... FAIRBANKS. Yep, with enough money to live on enough Hostess apple and lemon pies along with a shelter to stay in (my brothers summer dorm at the university), the trip was well worth the 6 hour drive. Did I learn anything new? Why yes I did! As my brother best put it, "Fairbanks is the 1980's version of Anchorage". The ciggerette smoking, confederate flag waving, and... long male hair truley lived up to my expectations.

A statue honoring the Italian explorer who couldn't find any gold and thus landed here to rest in frustration.

UAF --one of the few locations of the controls to the Mars rover.

Dillingers has real good cornbeef

My brother in the 3E car. No its not a cheesy tribute to Dale Earnhardt, rather it was ment to be No.33 until a crew member realized my brother was painting the first 3 the wrong direction on the roof of the car

Johanson Expressway

On the way home, I couldn't resist but take this shot at the tallest point in North America.. Mt. Denali

[monsoon]

My! Thanks for the Photos. I traveled once on the road between Fairbanks & Anchorage. I remember that view of the Mountain though it was called Mt Mckinley then. Is the road still gravel most of the way?

It looks like the same Fairbanks from the 1970s. Just dirtier now. Oh and I see they have a Walmart now.

[DigitalSky]

It reminds me of an international city rather than an American city. nice pics... um and yeah that Walmart, i see they made the facade look like separate shops lol

[M. Brown]

Suprisingly urban.

[ZachariahDaMan]

Nice pictures, thanks for posting. I really liked the picture of Mt. Denali.

[ironchapman]

Suprisingly urban.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know. It seems like it's a lot bigger city than it really is (like 100,000 instead of 35,000).

Alaska is quite a deceiving state. Most people think it's all just frozen tundra. I used to have some relatives who were stationed in the state, and I know I was quite surprised when my family went up to visit them and found Anchorage and Fairbanks to be as big as they were.

Nice photos, BTW.

[bic]

I remember that view of the Mountain though it was called Mt Mckinley then.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In 1897, the U.S. "officially" named the mountain Mt. McKinley, but Denali is the official name currently recognized by the State of Alaska. The mountain commonly goes by both names, however.

[NCB]

Great Pics!

I really want to travel to Alaska one day, I have always wanted to see what it is like up there.

The pictures reminded me of an international city as well, it looks very nice.

[mthq]

thanks for the replies guys! I appreciate them!

Indeed monsoon, the entire Parks highway is now paved. I dont know how it was when it wasn't, but Nenana is now a popular place to get up past 100mph with its straight-aways.

[monsoon]

Haha, I can tell you it was much longer than a 6 hour drive. I think it took two days.

[mthq]

Haha, I can tell you it was much longer than a 6 hour drive.  I think it took two days.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well the official time (at the legal 65 mph) is 8 hours. 6 hours is my personal time

[Snowguy716]

I've always wanted to visit Fairbanks and Anchorage.

I visited Juneau last summer with a group from my University and we helped clear trails and build an outhouse. (The old one was, well, a bit substandard and had spiders crawling all over it.)

Alaska is absolutely beautiful! And while the people of Juneau are a bit hostile to tourists.. once you tell them you're not there for the day from a cruise ship, they warm up quite a bit.

[alon504]

Thanks for the cool photos. It's great for many of us to see a part of our country, so far away, and we haven't been able to visit to see for ourselves. One of my dream trips is to go to Alaska in the Summer, and hopefully, I can do it in the next decade or so. And, I would elect to do it in a vehicle, as well...

[rusthebuss]

I couldn't believe it was that urban. I thought is was going to be more like a town. Looks cool!