Day 7: August 26, 2011
August 26 (sunny and clear – warm)
Had breakfast with blueberry waffles – Carol spotted two moose walking across the hay field next to the property – great way to start the day
Headed north to Fairbanks – stopped at the Knotty Shop in Salcha – bought some gifts – awesome display of old rifles, mounted animals and sculptures made from pine trees that have been infected and the wood forms into huge “knots” as the tree tries to grow vessels around the infection = knotty pine
Headed further north and stopped at the Santa Claus House in North Pole, AK – Carol got to talk to Santa and we were able to get some Santa gifts
Arrived in Fairbanks and checked into the Holiday Inn Express
Drove north to Fox to tour the El Dorado Gold Mine – ate a picnic lunch at the train station
Boarded the mine train and had to wait for some tour buses to arrive – while we waited we were entertained by Earl Hughes – named “Alaska’s Ambassador of Country Music” by Governor Sarah Palin – he played his fiddle and sang songs for us – very entertaining. Likes to imitate Johnny Cash.
Rode the mine train through a tunnel to learn about early gold mining in Alaska – stopped to see how the miners took out dirt from an underground mine – then stopped at the sluice to see how today’s mining is done
Yukon Yonda is one of the owners of the mine and she explained how they find gold today by digging the mountain where the gold is found, dropping the dirt into the sluice box, running water over the dirt – as the water is released (moving very fast) and the dirt is dropped into the sluice box, the gold will settle along the length of the box slowed by the metals bars it flows over - the heavier material is trapped at the top of the sluice while the lighter materials travels down the length of the box – the box has astro-turf carpet on the bottom which traps all of the material (pay dirt) – the bars are pulled up – the dirt and material are then “panned” for gold – while we were there Yukon Yonda found a gold nugget and several flakes of gold – she said she loved it “When the sluice runs yellow”
We then were given a bag of pay dirt to try our hands at panning for gold – it was so much fun we bought an extra bag to pan – all together we found about 1 gram of gold (worth about $48.00) and had the flakes put into a pendant that Carol can wear – very pretty – I agree, I like it “when the pan runs yellow!”
We headed back to Fairbanks to find dinner – went to Walmart to buy some snacks and went to Carl’s Jr. for a hamburger
Had breakfast with blueberry waffles – Carol spotted two moose walking across the hay field next to the property – great way to start the day
Headed north to Fairbanks – stopped at the Knotty Shop in Salcha – bought some gifts – awesome display of old rifles, mounted animals and sculptures made from pine trees that have been infected and the wood forms into huge “knots” as the tree tries to grow vessels around the infection = knotty pine
Headed further north and stopped at the Santa Claus House in North Pole, AK – Carol got to talk to Santa and we were able to get some Santa gifts
Arrived in Fairbanks and checked into the Holiday Inn Express
Drove north to Fox to tour the El Dorado Gold Mine – ate a picnic lunch at the train station
Boarded the mine train and had to wait for some tour buses to arrive – while we waited we were entertained by Earl Hughes – named “Alaska’s Ambassador of Country Music” by Governor Sarah Palin – he played his fiddle and sang songs for us – very entertaining. Likes to imitate Johnny Cash.
Rode the mine train through a tunnel to learn about early gold mining in Alaska – stopped to see how the miners took out dirt from an underground mine – then stopped at the sluice to see how today’s mining is done
Yukon Yonda is one of the owners of the mine and she explained how they find gold today by digging the mountain where the gold is found, dropping the dirt into the sluice box, running water over the dirt – as the water is released (moving very fast) and the dirt is dropped into the sluice box, the gold will settle along the length of the box slowed by the metals bars it flows over - the heavier material is trapped at the top of the sluice while the lighter materials travels down the length of the box – the box has astro-turf carpet on the bottom which traps all of the material (pay dirt) – the bars are pulled up – the dirt and material are then “panned” for gold – while we were there Yukon Yonda found a gold nugget and several flakes of gold – she said she loved it “When the sluice runs yellow”
We then were given a bag of pay dirt to try our hands at panning for gold – it was so much fun we bought an extra bag to pan – all together we found about 1 gram of gold (worth about $48.00) and had the flakes put into a pendant that Carol can wear – very pretty – I agree, I like it “when the pan runs yellow!”
We headed back to Fairbanks to find dinner – went to Walmart to buy some snacks and went to Carl’s Jr. for a hamburger
