Betty in the Wild: Alaskan Interior

Fairbanks, Alaska, seems to like to bill itself as the 'Farthest North'... whatever. Farthest North Bridge Club, Farthest North Girls Scouts Council and Harley Davidson Farthest North Outpost are three quick examples from the interwebnet.  It gets way chilly in winter, as low as 60 degrees below zero on the Fahrenheit scale, which I believe equates to about -50 degrees Celsius.  Gracious, that's brisk!  However, as one bartender who'd only been living there since June, and hence had experienced nothing colder than around the freezing mark told me, "It's a dry cold."

If you ask me, Fairbanks is worth a visit.  It has a hot springs resort, a strong possibility of a Northern Lights sighting and some great places to hike.  It also has:

A corporate lobby with a display of native artwork, including the bag made from a moose's bladder on the left in this photo;










A group of statuary celebrating the contributions of American and Russian pilots, male and female, to the Allied victory in World War II, including plaques describing elements of those contributions in some detail (one thinks of The Great Betty's contributions at moments like this); and






A very nice coffee shop where you can get afternoon tea, consisting of a large mug of tea made from a bag and a slice of excellent pumpkin bread.

Plus, if you head outside of the town's main area, you might see a moose.  If you are worried about missing your flight, you might not take a photo with your distance lens, nor add a Betty book to the scenery.  Ah, well.