Friday, August 13, 2010

Chatanika Lodge and Fountainhead Auto Musuem

Yesterday Rowdy picked us up and we headed out to the Chatanika Lodge where there is an abandoned gold mine known as gold dredge #3 .  Between 1928 and 1958, hundreds of thousands of ounces of gold passed through the five-deck dredge, which functioned as a gigantic mechanical gold pan.  We were able to climb all over the dredge which is pretty amazing because there are rotted floorboards and holes throughout the entire thing.  Anybody could easily fall off of it since there aren’t any railings either.  It’s amazing in this day of  lawsuits for everything that people are allowed to explore this but we had a blast!

Since they are no longer mining for gold here Chatanika is mostly known nowadays for the Chatanika Days Outhouse Race. Each March five-person teams race a one-mile course, with four pushing and one riding in the specially built 'racing outhouses'.

The abandoned dredge

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Then it was over to the lodge for some lunch.  Very interesting bar/restaurant with collectibles all over the place from floor to ceiling.  There is even a 1955 Corvette in the bar.

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We passed by the Silver Gulch Brewery which lists itself as the furthest north beer brewery.  LOL, I think everything here is “the furthest north”.   We couldn’t go in because they didn’t open until 4:00 pm.

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Then it was back to Fairbanks to check out the Antique Auto Musuem.  The museum features over 70 historically significant automobiles produced in the United States prior to World War II.  What an amazing collection of cars.  I asked the girl at the desk where they got all the cars and she said it was a private collection.  WOW!!  One person owns ALL those cars!!  We figured out it must be the owner of the Fountainhead Resorts located here in Fairbanks since it’s on their grounds.  They also had videos playing throughout of people actually driving cars that looked like the ones in the museum.

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They also had displays of clothing from the era

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Rowdy wanted this one.

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We even got to pose in one

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My favorite

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Today we’re staying home taking care of chores and things.  Blah!  Tomorrow we’re headed out to Rowdy and Missy’s cabin in the woods for the weekend.  Can you believe I’m going to be “unconnected” for the entire weekend???  Should be a GREAT time and we’re really excited about it!

By the way, CONGRATS to my niece, Rachelle & her husband, Donnie on the birth of their baby girl today.  Welcome to the world, Aubree Grace!!!

Aubree Grace

2 comments:

A couple of newer paintings 2019 said...

Congrats on the new member of the family!

Mark and Dortha said...

Have a great weekend.