Day 12- North Pole

June 23

197 miles

4 hr 38min drive time

24 gallons of gas

Stayed at Fairbanks KOA

Today we woke up to lots of sunshine and warm temps.  A complete opposite of yesterday.  

The campground had pressure washers so the truck and camper got a much needed shower.  They were both gross and you couldn't even see out the rear windows of the camper.  It did little to remove the bugs from the front of either tower.  It's going to suck getting them clean when I get home.

Most of the drive was on newish roads.  There was a couple sections that were being rebuilt which means my truck is dirty again.  

We saw the smoke of many forest fires out in the distance.

Our first stop today was in Delta Junction.  It is the official end of the Alcan Highway.   They are supposed to have a monument similar to the beginning but it was down for refurbishment.   It's supposed to be done in July.  We will be going through Tok again on our way home.  If the monument is erected in time we might have to make a quick strip back up for an official photo.

Just a few miles more we were able to see the Alaskan Pipeline.  I think this will be the only time on the trip we will have an opportunity to see it.   It was not nearly as impressive as I thought it would be.  I thought it was larger in diameter.  Also being suspended over the river probably didn't help either.   The girls didn't care at all and only humored me for a photo.

Farther up the road we stopped at a gift store called The Knotty Pine.  Lots of junk to buy.  I'm determined to not buy anything that isn't made in Alaska although I will make exceptions for t-shirts.  Which Davan found one she had to have.  They did have an impressive mounted animal display of all the local wildlife.  it was pretty neat to see what we have seen vs. what we have not.  We also got some ice cream. 

About an hour later we finally rolled into North Pole.  Of course the streets have names such as Mistletoe lane and all 9 of Santa's Reindeer.

There is a year round Santa's house we will visit.  I'm not sure what else we will do here.  We have a full day.  There is a riverboat cruise in Fairbanks that I've heard is good.  They also have an impressive Antique car museum, although the girls would be begging to leave 10 minutes after we get there.

I guess we will figure it out when we get up.   My evening was filled with laundry, flushing out the holding tanks really well and other minor clean up and putting away.  The girls also have been begging for another home staple for dinner.  Mexican pizza's.  A recipe Jen had found and is always a crowd favorite.  It's simply a soft tortilla shell.  Enchilada sauce, taco meat and cheese.  The original recipe calls for green chilies but the girls don't like them and I'm not going to waste a can just for me.   We used green enchilada sauce this time because that's all I could find at the Canadian c=grocery store in one of the little overnight towns we stayed in.  I think it's actually better than the red.  Not as spicy, but has a different kind of tang to it.  

Just as a note, it is midnight as I write this and the sun is just now starting to set.