Fairbanks to Wrangell-St. Elias

Princess Wilderness Lodge
If it were clear, a view of the Wrangell Mountains

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Another glacier...
More mountains...
A beautiful lake along the way to Wrangell-St. Elias
Visiting the Christmas House in North Pole, Alaska
In Pioneer Park, Fairbanks

It was a nice drive from Denali, but rainy, so I didn't take any pictures along the way. We passed by some of the burned forest from recent forest fires. We got to Fairbanks around lunch time. We went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska, which was very similar to the Anchorage Museum. Lots of history on various indigenous groups, gold rush history, natural history and Fairbanks history. It was a nice museum and since the kids were so patient, we took them to the playground at Pioneer Park afterwards. They had a great time playing with the local kids, who were starting school the next day.

The next morning we made our first stop at North Pole. The have the world's largest Santa along the side of the freeway, and the Christmas House. Unfortunately Santa wasn't there on Mondays, but we looked around and bought a couple of ornaments. We also spent some time looking at Santa's reindeer.

The drive was another spectacular one, particularly going through Isabelle pass. The pictures really don't do it justice. We got to the park's visitor center late in the afternoon and got some info on hikes. We stayed at the Princess Wilderness Lodge, which is run by the cruise line, and is very nice. It was actually the cheapest lodging option in the area when I looked online, only $99/night. They had great views of the mountains, and a great restaurant. I thought the food was the best we had during the entire trip, with the exception of our cruise.

More later...