alaskaland.

        One of my all-time favorite Fairbanks days this summer was spent in Pioneer Park. Originally called "Alaskaland," Pioneer Park is a forty-acre State Historical Park dedicated to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Alaska's purchase from Russia. History aside, we used the Fairbanks Summer Folk Fest as an excuse to revel in feigned tourism and spent the entire day watching kids have water fights, fishing on the Chena, playing mini-golf, eating soft serve ice cream and riding the Crooked Creek and Whiskey Island Railroad around the perimeter of the park (twice!).

This is the Warren G. Harding Railcar. Harding was the first U.S. president to visit the territory of Alaska. He traveled in this very railcar to celebrate the completion of the Alaska Railroad, then he died two weeks later.

Thaddaeus and I were mistaken for German tourists by a resident wood and bone carver.

Then, all of a sudden, Thaddaeus got a HUGE craving for fair food and found what he was looking for at Grizzly's Tent Camp Foods.

Another interesting attraction was the Riverboat SS Nenana. It's famous for being the largest stern-wheeler built west of the Mississippi and the second largest wooden vessel in existence! What's more, the inside has been converted into a museum with a 300-foot long diorama of life in the early 1900s along the Tanana and Yukon rivers. I love these little things.

Thaddaeus made some mild repairs while we were on the ship, for good measure.