In Fairbanks: city slickers

Fairbanks was, by far, the most "exotic" location we visited on our trip. When I say exotic, I mean it is the place that was the most dissimilar from other places I have been. In Seward, we were on the water. It was a great little fishing town. Anchorage was a small city. Fairbanks, however, particularly the downtown area where we stayed, seemed the most removed from the world I know. Granted, the activities we traveled to Fairbanks to see, the World Ice Art Carving Championships, and the North American Sled Dog Speed Trials made this trip what it was.

We arrived fairly late in the evening. Our hotel was downtown and we quickly learned that downtown Fairbanks is much maligned by many - particularly the University folks we spoke with who talked about how dangerous the area is. It was seedy, but interesting. The first night, we ordered food - pizza - and stayed in the hotel. We hoped to see the Borealis while we were in Fairbanks so asked the hotel staff to wake us if the lights were out that night. Then we went to bed.

The next morning we resolved to find breakfast. I was concerned about getting enough calcium and protein on this trip so we ate big breakfasts every morning (eggs, eggs, and more eggs for me). We checked the weather report before leaving the hotel - I could see the wind whipping snow past our window. The temperature - 5 degrees with wind chill placing you at 15 - 25 below. We bundled up - Jason's first opportunity to don the fancy expedition weight long underwear he purchased for the trip. We left the hotel and wandered into empty downtown Fairbanks. None of the diners on Jason's list were open so we ended up at a little hole in the wall called the Trapper's Shack.

The Trapper's Shack was a strictly local establishment. I definitely got the sense that "downtown people" in Fairbanks are similarly situated to "downtown people" where I am doing my fieldwork, folks at the bottom of the class structure, living in low-rent, poor quality housing, and isolated from new opportunities that come to the municipality (which are situated in the outskirts of a city with summer-only public transportation). We sat down and ordered. I noticed over Jason's shoulder that there was a couple at the counter who had turned and was staring at us. Not quizzically, but with that annoyed and disdainful expression that islanders pull out for tourists who are where they shouldn't be. They were speaking to each other as they stared at us and I could intuit what they were saying. It was something along the lines of, "F***ing city slickers from Anchorage."

Afterwards, Jason and I talked about how obviously we were outsiders. Jason did not shave the rest of the trip.

After breakfast we went over to the World Ice Art Carving Championships. They were quite spectacular. So spectacular, in fact, that we went again that evening to see the lighted sculptures.

This is a life-sized ice pig in the children's area where all the sculptures could be climbed upon.

ice pig