SS Nenana – The last steamboat to Fairbanks
SS Nenana along the Lower Yukon River during the 1940s (originally posted on 9-11-2012 – revised on 4-30-2018) The SS Nenana has been one of the premier attractions at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks....
Found art – cast-offs discovered in the woods
Its doesn’t take much to make me happy: a forgotten whatcha-ma-call-it gradually being buried by leaves and twigs, or an old barrel mouldering in a stand of black spruce. You never know what you...
Prickly Rose blossoms blanket the woods nearby
A few days ago I mentioned that the Prickly Roses (Rosa acicularis) were about to bloom. They have now erupted into blossoms. Here are a couple of photos.
High-bush cranberries are blooming in Fairbanks
The high-bush cranberries in our front yard are in full bloom. These are “Alaskan” high-bush cranberries (Viburnum edule). They are not to be confused with American high-bush cranberries (Viburnum trilobum), even though...
Another old Illinois Street building bites the dust
Up until last summer this building stood at 270 Illinois Street. It was one of the buildings occupied by OK Lumber, which went out of business several years ago. The Alaska Railroad Corporation,...
Charles Adams and the S.S. Lavelle Young were icons of Alaska steamboating
The S.S. Lavelle Young at Fairbanks in 1904 Two riverboats are represented at Pioneer Park: the S.S. Lavelle Young (first commercial steamboat to navigate the Chena River in 1901), and the S.S. Nenana (last...
Improved view of historic houses one of plusses of Illinois Street improvements
The Illinois Street project is bittersweet for me. While it will improve traffic flow through downtown Fairbanks and eliminate some awkward and dangerous traffic situations, it also took out several historic buildings. One of...
Mossy rock wall in my front yard
What can I say. They’re close-up photos of the mossy rock wall in my front yard. I built a low dry-fit rock wall in front of my larkspur bed a few years back and...
Lady Ferns unfurl in front of my abode
Here are some photos of emerging Northwestern Lady Ferns (Athyrium filix-femina var. cyclosorum) in my front yard. You can definitely see why these are sometimes called “fiddlehead” ferns. The botanical name for the young...
Artistic Mud
It has been raining recently. Reminds me of a few years ago when we had to do some repairs to the front of our garage’s foundation. While the trench was still open it rained,...
