We spent the whole day in Fairbanks. In the morning we went on a riverboat cruise on the Discovery III. It was on the Chena River which is pretty narrow and not really used very much. The boat went along slowly, stopping dead in the water at several places for demonstrations that were on shore. The folks on the shore had microphones which were hooked into the audio system on the boat.We stopped at the Susan Butcher Kennels for a dog sled demonstration and at the the Chena Indian Village where we got off for a while and listened to some presentations about Athabascan Indian life. Those were interesting. Even though it was fun, we had the feeling that it was more a stage production than anything else. It was all extremely rehearsed. Just before we sailed, a float plane put on a demonstration which we found fun to watch. It took off next to the boat and went around the patch and landed. That was neat.

In the early afternoon we went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska. It had an interesting Alaskan history exhibit which included fossils, rocks and minerals and lots of Indian stuff. It was fun to go through. There was also an art exhibit. I didn't like it at all. What a surprise. They also had an exhibit about the R/V Sikuliaq which is the university's research vessel. It was neat because there was a lot of hardware on display. The most interesting to me was a expendable bathythermograph, a gadget that a friend of mine, Sam Francis, invented. Actually, his company, Sippican. Wiki bathythermograph, it is interesting.

In the evening we went to a salmon bake and stage show. This was excellent all around. They had salmon, prime rib and fried codfish with all the trimmings. The show at the Palace Theater was called the Golden Heart Review. It was a humorous musical review looking at the founding of Fairbanks. They did a hilarious bit based on Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First." This was on sled dogs. It was all very well done and we had a great time.

Tomorrow we head up to Pruhdoe Bay and cross the Arctic Circle. I am very excited about this part of the trip. Unfortunately, time is getting short for us on this vacation trip. We have been in Alaska for five weeks and we will return home on Sunday, Father's Day.