By now you’ve realized that these posts are delayed from our travels. The intent was to stay a few weeks behind, both for safety reasons and to take some of the pressure off writing deadlines. But with travel and enjoying the trip, I’ve drifted further behind. So I’ll attempt to catch up a bit. The posts could use a little more focus in any event.
We only had a day in Fairbanks after we got off the train from Denali. It was a convenient place to connect with Alaskan Airlines for our first flight of the trip. So with only a small amount of time, we decided to go to the University of Alaska Museum of the North. Because of course we would go to a museum.
We thought we had seen a lot of indigenous art and cultural artifacts, as well as wildlife. This was the most extensive museum collection that we saw in Alaska, however. Little Koi particularly enjoyed the gemstone exhibits and the bison. Bison, you say? Yes, “Blue Babe” is a 36,000 year old steppe bison discovered in 1979. She was in incredible condition, and conservation work has kept her so. The exhibit actually had our preteen reading about carbon dating and paleontology forensic techniques. The name “Blue Babe” arises from the minerals that had deposited on the body, turning it cobalt blue and preserving it.
There were several other interactive exhibits about paleontology , as well as extensive indigenous art and artifacts. There was also modern Alaskan art and a really nice planetarium show. I particularly enjoyed the sound exhibit that transposed the electromagnetic radiation of the northern lights into frequencies in the human hearing range.
I enjoyed the collection of wildlife and the kayak frames. Once again it was interesting to see the variations in design in response to the local conditions and needs of the builders. I also enjoyed reading about the Sheldon car, which unfortunately was on loan to another museum.
We finally left, driven from the museum by hunger. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but if astronomy, nature, indigenous culture, history, art, or astronomy happen to be interests, this one is a safe bet for ages 8 and up.
From Fairbanks we boarded our first flight of the trip, after 6 weeks on the road. Onward to Hawaii!! A big change of scenery.
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