Monday, July 24th - Golden Days in Fairbanks

This past weekend, Steve and I stayed busy attending various activities in celebration of Golden Days. Golden Days began as a way of collectively honoring Fairbanks’ past, and Felix Pedro's discovery of gold on July 22, 1902. Historical and informative exhibits are at various locations throughout Golden Days. Many favorite events are held, including the Children’s Parade, Red Green River Regatta, a street fair, the Rubber Duckie Race, & the Grande Parade. This year, Steve and I (and Rachael) attended the Rubber Duckie Race and the Red Green River Regatta. Rachael and I attended the Governor's Annual Picnic at Pioneer Park, and Steve and I attended the WEIO (World Eskimo Indian Olympics). It was a very full weekend, and the weather was absolutely perfect! We're all sporting some color from being out in the sun.

On Saturday, we missed the Grande Parade, but made it downtown in time for the Rubber Duckie Race and street fair. I just love to people watch - and especially enjoy photographing folks having a good time. Children are a real favorite of mine - especially during celebrations. They play with abandon, and enjoy and adore the simple things.

The three of us wandered the booths downtown before finding a place to sit on the riverbank to wait for the ducks to come down river. These rubber ducks are numbered and you can buy tickets to try for a chance to win. If your duck crosses the finish line first, there are wonderful prizes to be had. Even runner up ducks come with some nice prizes.

After the ducks came by, we walked around some more and ended up running into some online friends on the Cushman Street bridge. I had never met Celeste and her husband Randy in real life, but found them on 'Yahoo 360' - an online blogging community. We all knew we'd be downtown for the festivities and wrote about the possibility of running into each other. I told them I'd keep an eye out for them, and vice versa. Celeste said that Steve looked "familiar" to her, and then when she saw my red hair, she knew it was us. We were standing right next to each other on the bridge! It is definitely a small world.

Cloud Reflections in building	Rubber Duckie inflatable	Golden Heart Plaza crowd	Here come the Rubber Duckies!
Little girl playing on the rocks	Little boy playing in river	Little girl picking flowers	Daddy shading daughter
Patriotic hair ornaments	Pretty little princess	Little girl and pretty hat	Ice cream on a summer day
Pup staying cool in the shade	Rubber duckies and river baffle	Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living! ~ Amanda Bradley ~

Saturday night, Steve and I attended the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. While I have attended several Native Arts festivals and have seen native dancing and drumming, this was my first time attending the olympics. On the agenda Saturday evening was the 'one arm pull', the 'high kick', and the 'blanket toss'.

Excerpts about the history of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics from the WEIO website:

"The first World Eskimo Olympics was held in Fairbanks in 1961 drawing contestants and dance teams from Barrow, Unalakleet, Tanana, Fort Yukon, Noorvik and Nome. The event was a big success and has been held annually ever since.

For time immemorial, Native peoples of the circumpolar areas of the world have gathered in small villages to participate in games of strength, endurance, balance, and agility. Along with these athletic games, dancing, story telling, and other audience participation games took place. This provided an opportunity for friendly competition, entertainment and laughter. The hosts provided food and lodging, and visitors brought news from surrounding villages and expanded opportunities for challenge building and renewing old and new friendships. This is the background of the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics and the atmosphere, which we seek to replicate.

Survival for the Native people of Alaska has been the name of the games for as long as our elders can recollect. When listening to them tell of their early life, it sometimes seems inconceivable they managed at all. These stories constantly reiterate the need to be disciplined physically as well as mentally, to share, cooperate, and to hold a reverence for the source which makes it possible to survive in an environment which is severe in every sense of the word. These people lived off what nature provided. They hunted, fished, and gathered plants for food, clothing, and medicinal purposes. In all of these instances they had to be strong and agile, and able to endure past normal limits of strength and pain. In winter or summer, one had to prepare to be tested at any moment, and to fail could easily be the difference between life and death."

One Arm Pull

Concentration

High Kick

Blanket Toss

On Sunday, Steve and I took Rachael with us to enjoy the Red Green Regatta. This is my favorite Golden Days event, because of the excitement, silliness, and creativity. Every year I think to myself, "Next year, I'm going to participate!" I don't know if that will ever happen, but it sure is a lot of fun - even if only to watch from the bridge and riverbank.

This year, there were some great boats and rafts. Some looked like they'd never float, and made it the entire way. Others looked very float-worthy and fell apart not long after launching. I watched one girl put together a little raft made entirely of soda cans. I didn't expect it to get very far, and was pleasantly surprised to see her paddling alongside some of the bigger boats. There were a couple of pirate ship type entries. One had a skull and crossbones flag, cannon holes along the side, and was painted black. Another one was more like a raft, but the captain and crew had installed large slingshots and proceeded to launch water balloons at the spectators as we stood watching from the bridges and riverbanks. It was such fun! Another vessel made a definite statement about last year's Katrina disaster and the ensuing chaos.

A raft built of soda cans	Female firefighters	Assembling at the river launch	A little pedal action
A dog and water balloons	Won second place!	The Regatta floats down river	She floats!
Comedic attire	Pushing off after a crash	We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing! ~ Benjamin Franklin ~ Take time to laugh. It is the music of the soul. ~ from an old Irish prayer ~

Once the boats were launched and on their way to the finish line, we made our way there too. Every overlook, and riverbank, and footbridge had crowds of people cheering as the boats floated by. At Pioneer Park - the finish line - there were already people sitting on blankets in the grass waiting for the winner to arrive. The sun was blazing, so we decided to seek out some shaded areas for a little relief.

We came upon a new feature at Pioneer Park: a local musher had set up an area to offer dogsled rides (on wheels at this time of year). The sled dogs were in a pen with beautiful log doghouses, and outside their area was another fenced in area with a sign that said, "Future Iditarod Racers" and two of the cutest puppies! We just had to stop and get photos of them. We also stopped into the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts to look at the beautiful quilts on display.

Our plan was to hang around for the Governor's Picnic - an annual free BBQ for Fairbanksans. Steve wasn't interested in waiting around in the hot sun for a burger and the fixings, so he decided to head home and come back for us later. In addition to some yummy food, there was a band, dancing, a children's parade, a BBQ cook-off, and various other exhibitions and events. We ate our fill and enjoyed people watching - especially those folks who dress for Golden Days in turn-of-the-century outfits, as well as other 'not so period' costumes. It's all great fun.

Future Iditarod Racers	Howling Pups	An Ice Artist hard at work	Ice Flying
Ready for the Children's Parade	Parade entrant deep in thought	Governor Frank Murkowski and winners of the teen age group	Fun to play dress up

All in all, it was an activity filled weekend, under sunny skies. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

I don't have any plans this week, except to continue my daily walks with Rachael. It feels good to get out with Sedona and get some exercise, although it's been very warm as we make our way home. I've been tempted to jump in the river with Sedona when we stop to let the pups swim, but 40-something degree water is just a tad too chilly for me!

It's hard to believe that August is just around the corner. My military spouse friends are in the final stretch as they prepare for their soldiers to return from Iraq. I am so excited for everyone, and can not wait until all of our Fort Wainwright troops are home again. Fairbanks is planning a Homecoming Celebration in mid-August, but I'll be in Philadelphia then. I'm sure it will be a very festive occasion.

Steve goes on block leave the entire month of September. Our original plan was to try to visit Haines and Skagway, but now I think we're going to keep our travels to the Parks and Richardson Highway circuit. We hope to spend a few days in Valdez, a few days in Seward, and a few days in Homer - with overnight stops in Anchorage and other towns along the way.

I contacted a real estate agent about looking at homes in the area. It's a scary step to make, but a necessary one. Rental costs are climbing sky high, and I'd rather put the money toward our mortgage, rather than a landlord's. Also - with renting - it's difficult to find a landlord that will allow pets. The few that do, charge exorbitant pet deposits (in excess of $1000/pet!). Since our family includes two furkids, we're really in a tough position.

Buying a home, knowing that Steve is retiring in 9 months and our income will be substantially reduced, petrifies us. All we can do is keep the faith that Steve will find employment. And if I have to go back to working for someone else, so be it. We can't achieve our dream without some hard work, and we'll do what it takes. Still... it's scary.