Fun Day on the Town

Well today was a pretty fun day. Dina had the day off so we planned a fun day to go see Fairbanks and do all the touristy stuff we have not done yet. We got up at 8am, ate breakfast and went to the gym. Dina worked out while I had to deal with Sallie Mae on the phone for an hour and a half.....not fun at all, but after all that talking I am praying things are worked out and my anxiety over paying these dumb things back is resolved. So....I didn't get to work out, but we got changed and at about noon we headed to a place called Pioneer Park.

Apparently its a historical theme park and no visitor to Fairbanks should miss it. It was ok. Not what I expected. We walked around to these cute little cabins that had handmade crafts and gifts, we ate at a little place where we ordered salmon salad sandwiches. After that we went and viewed a native museum, an old steamboat, an art gallery, and took lots of pictures along the way. The best part of Pioneer park was -40 Fairbanks experience. You pay to get dressed up in big heavy parkas and gloves and go into a big "freezer" that is set at -40 degrees. Once inside they let you take in a cup of boiling water and toss it up in the air and immediately it evaporates into steam....amazing. The girl took a picture of me and Dina, and then left us there for as long as we wanted. We got pictures by the thermostat, in an ice chair and we got to pound a nail in a board with a frozen banana. Sounds kinda silly but it was VERY COLD!!!!! I have never felt anything like that and am very glad I will not be here when it is that cold outside. We bought t-shirts that say "I survived -40 degrees in Fairbanks AK". Cheesy, but fun :). We got lots of pics and it was quite the experience.

After Pioneer Park we went to the Visitors Center downtown and took pictures at the "End of the Alaskan Highway" post, and took pictures of the famous Eskimo family statue fountain. We walked over to a place called the Fudge Pot. We got soft serve blueberry ice cream (yum!! it was made with real Alaskan wild blueberries) and then got a small sliver of blueberry chocolate fudge. Both were amazing! We sat and talked a bit and then walked downtown to all the shops.

After that we headed over to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Botanical gardens. Again, it was not what we expected but it was neat. Because it is light 24/7 during the summer their fruits and veggies grow HUGE. We saw some giant sized cabbage, broccoli, corn, and squash, and then a variety of beautiful flowers. Some were even flown in from Africa and other parts of the world. It was fun, and very pretty.

We then headed over to Barnes and Noble (our new hang out spot as you can tell), and read some magazines, then we were getting hungry so we headed home. All in all it was a great day. I am going to go talk to Wal-Mart personally tomorrow so please keep me in your prayers that they will be open to hiring me temporarily, and I can start soon. I want to enjoy AK w/o the stress of having no money. Well it is time for bed, I will talk to you all later! Have a great day.