Creamers Diary

Creamers Dairy

Our friend Janice put us in touch with her childhood friend in Fairbanks.  We had a great time with them at Creamers Dairy, a farm which is now owned by the government and which is a major migratory bird flyway.

We had been wondering why we haven’t seen many birds this whole trip, and the answer is because most of them are migratory and they were already ahead of us, flying further north for the summer.   One of the species that comes here is the Sandhill Crane, which also flies to the Platte River, close to where my sister lives in Nebraska. 

The fields here have been planted with rapeseed (from which we get canola oil).  It is attractive for the color.  They also plant fragrant flowers.  The military, which has both an Army and Air Force post in Fairbanks, applauds and encourages this field, because it takes the birds on a trajectory away from the airfields where bird strikes have been common in the past.

We spent a delightful day with Fred and Marty.  Fred recently became a guide here, having taken the orientation course, and we were his first students.

We spent a lovely afternoon at the Pump House restaurant, one of the features on the Riverboat Discovery tour.  We sat next to Cripple Creek, which is where the first gold in the area was discovered.  It is about 2 12 feet wide and unimpressive.  You’d never know it started the rush to the Yukon Gold Fields.

So, we watched the riverboat go by for the third day in a row, and enjoyed it just as much.