I can't believe a week has passed since my last entry. The week has flown by, as I've been keeping very busy. This weekend was a whirlwind of activity, and I took nearly 800 photos at various events throughout Fairbanks and the surrounding area.

This past Monday, the northern ligths made another appearance. They didn't last long, but it was a clear night and the stars were absolutely brilliant. When the clouds finally overtook the sky, the stars slowly faded, the lights disappeared, and the lights of neighboring Fort Wainwright got caught below them, brightening the night. These are 30-second exposures.

On Tuesday, I put on my "Fairbanks Ambassador" cap and met up with a lovely couple (Monica and Tim) who were in Fairbanks for a visit, before planning a move up here later this summer. We made arrangements to meet at Gambardellas for lunch. Monica just recently joined the Alaska Living Group online, which is how we "met" initially. We were joined for lunch by another Alaska Living Group member - Jim - who also lent his insight regarding life in Fairbanks. I made sure to talk about the harder-to-handle aspects of life in the Interior (long, cold and dark winters), in addition to the fun and interesting stuff. Monica and Tim have two children, and I wish I would have been more knowledgeable about activities for children. I forgot to mention the awesome programs and activities that the local library hosts for kids. If you're reading this Monica, check out the Fairbanks Public Library website - particularly the events calendar.

We had snow flurries on Wednesday for a little while. I stayed inside where it was nice and warm. The sun came out later in the afternoon and brightened things up nicely. To pass the time, I decided that my furkids would make great subjects.

	Sedona (left) is going to be 12 years old in June. We adopted her from the SPCA in NC. She's still in pretty good health for being an old girl; I'm so glad of that. Her muzzle and eyebrows are now tinted white, but she'll always be my baby. Airborne (right) will be 11 in September. She was also adopted in NC. She is *my* girl too, but loves Steve when she hears him open a can of cat food. I love my girls very much!

On Friday, I picked up my friend Abby for lunch and the first race of the GCI North American Championship Dog Race. We dined at The Cookie Jar, and despite the large crowd, the service and the food were good. The North American Championship Race started and finished downtown. The route took the mushers along a slough until they had to cross a road to get to Creamers Field to pick up the trail again. The slough was right down the road from The Cookie Jar, so that's where Abby and I went after lunch. After watching a few teams come by, we made our way across the street to Creamers Field to take some more photographs.

		Dog down	Unhooking the dog
Picking up the dog	In the sled bag
	On her heels

While shooting the race, my camera rolled past 50,000 frames. That's a lot of photos. I've had my 20D since May 2005, so that's not too bad. I put the 40D in my 'shopping cart' on B&H Photo, but decided I'm going to wait a little while before I order it. I'd like to have it by the time we go bear viewing in July, but it's not a necessity. I almost want to wait even longer for the 50D or the 40D+ or whatever model will be coming out next. I hate buying a camera and having a new model released within a year! I've gotten good use of my 20D. She's served me well for the past 3 years. I'm due for a new camera. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it)

On Saturday, Steve and I tried Silver Gulch Brewery for their brunch menu. It wasn't what we expected (the menu was much different than other Fairbanks establishments), but it was good. Steve ordered an American breakfast which came with eggs, reindeer sausage, home fries, and Texas toast. I ordered the Monte Cristo, which came with home fries too. It was quite tasty. Other offerings on the menu included an Italian brunch plate with prosciutto, various cheeses, ciabatta bread, and fruit. I believe there was an Irish plate and a British plate too, but I don't have the menu to refer to, so I can't be sure. We'd eat there again, but probably only if we were heading to that side of town - or in that direction.

After breakfast, we drove out to Chatanika to watch the festivities for Chatanika Days. We got there an hour before the outhouse race started, so we took a short hike up over the tailings to see the gold dredge up close. It's been years since I walked up there to photograph the old dredge. I've posted a couple more photos of the dredge below.

From Wikipedia:

The Chatanika gold dredge is a historic relic of gold dredge #3 owned and operated by F.E co between 1928 and 1958. The dredge is located at about 27.5 miles along the Steese highway east of Fairbanks in a five dozen acre pond it dug itself, directly across the road from the Chatanika Lodge. Today the dredge is technically off-limits to the public, but the rule is not enforced and access is relatively easy.

To get to the dredge, one simply parks at the Chatanika Lodge, walks across the road and up the tailing pines (giant piles of rocks). Once atop any of the hills, the dredge is clearly visible and it's a simple matter to walk to it. The only tricky parts are descending the tailings down to the dredge and then climbing the (nearly-broken) ladder onto the facility itself, though none of this is necessary if you just want to see the dredge.

If you decide to "board" the dredge, be careful and watch out for broken glass, rusted metal, slippery/tilted surfaces and rotting wood floors. It's also decorated with graffiti, much of it inappropriate for a family-friendly outing. As with any outing that involves the Alaskan wilderness, it's a good idea to bring a friend - and occasionally, to be armed or otherwise prepared for bears, moose or wolves.

The outhouse race didn't go as far (distance) as it has in previous years. Due to lack of snow on the road, they decided to hold a sprint instead. The teams pushed their outhouses up the road a bit and then waited for the cue to go, before pushing them back down the road to the finish line in front of the Chatanika Roadhouse. Hundreds of people came out for the festivities and we ran into several people that we know. This weekend was the 29th anniversary of outhouse racing in Chatanika.

	Gold Dredge Panoramic (900 pixels)
Chatanika Lodge	Beautiful hat!	Beautiful little girl!	Blow fish? Porcupine?
Old Faithful	UAF Outhouse	Brace yourself!	Sunday paper?
Even our pooches need warmth	Their baby is in his coat, and they're keeping him warm.	Human Bowling begins!	Uh-OH!
Disney Harley Caps			F.E. Gold Camp

Today, Steve had to go back to work, so I picked up my friend Lisa. Her husband is away training (army) so we both had the day free and thought it would be great to spend it together. We had breakfast at The Bakery, and then drove to Pioneer Park to see what time the art expo started. We were too early.

To wile away some time, I drove to the Carlson Center in search of ducks. The ducks I used to watch and photograph behind Pioneer Park have moved up the river a little ways, and there were quite a few mallards and pintails (I believe they're pintails) enjoying the water and the melting ice floes.

After a short walk along the bike/walking path - when my fingers were just about turning blue (I didn't have my gloves on) - we decided we'd just head downtown and find a good spot near the starting line to watch Day 3 of the North American Championship Race take off. We arrived downtown just in time for the fur auction. Several folks bid on various fur pelts (wolverine, wolf, fox, mink) as well as antlers. Some pelts went for more than $300.

I took Lisa into the Co-Op building (she had never gone in before), and pointed out the Co-Op Diner, as well as the other various shops. Nothing but the diner and the coffee shop were open, since it was Sunday, but we walked around in there anyway and I took a few photos from the second level looking down. From there we took a walk around the block before finding a good position along 2nd Street to watch the teams leave the starting line. By this time the crowd had swelled considerably. We watched every team go off the line before heading back to my car.

The Co Op Diner from the second level. I desaturated the photo and then colorized only the sign.	Another photo looking down towards the Co Op Diner	Only a small portion of fox pelts.	This is blurry, but I wanted a photo. I find this wolf hat very eerie, personally.
The First Family of Fairbanks	This is Lisa being silly.	The old courthouse

Since we were too early for the Art Expo earlier in the day, we drove back to Pioneer Park to check it out. There were quite a few booths offering Native arts and crafts, as well as some booths selling photos, drawings, prints, jewelry, etc. Just after we arrived, they had a parka contest. Contestants wore their beautiful parkas (hand made) and paraded in front of the judges. I don't know what the prize was, but I thought all the parkas were just beautiful. There was even a little baby wearing a hand-made parka and gorgeous little mukluks.

Pretty stained glass for sale. (Selective color)

All in all, it was a very full week, and an extremely busy weekend. But the hustle-bustle doesn't stop here. Later on this week, Steve and I will be going down to Homer for a few days to view/photograph the eagles. Steve is also participating in the Winter King Tournament (fishing). We're planning to get together with Chris and Ken on Friday, if all goes as planned. The weather forecast for both Fairbanks and points south of Anchorage doesn't look good. I hope we don't hit any bad weather in the passes.

I doubt I'll have time to update this journal until we get back from Homer next week. Hopefully I'll have some awesome eagle photos to share.