jackal

I had the chance to visit the Fountainhead museum last weekend, and it was fantastic. I was not expecting such an interesting, unique, and well-preserved selection of antique autos in a place like Fairbanks.

It was started fairly recently (2007-ish, I believe--shortly after I moved away) by the guy who owns the Wedgewood resort, and while the museum does have a section of automobiles that either were present in or represent early automotive history in Alaska, much of the collection was purchased and imported by someone who was very obviously interested not just in antique autos but very specifically autos that have a unique innovation. While there are lots of beautifully-preserved Packards and Cadillacs and the like (including the very first model year Cadillac ever built), there are early all-electric cars, early hybrid autos, innovations with enclosing the passenger cabin, etc. For those interested in period history, the collection of turn-of-the-century dress may be of interest as well. Everything in the museum is from between the 1890s and the 1930s, so it's quite specific to early automotive history.

There is a reason it is the #1 attraction on TripAdvisor. I assumed I would spend 45 minutes and ended up spending 2.5 hours. I took two friends to it the next day, neither one of whom is really into cars, and both were extremely impressed and glad they spent their time there.

We also visited the Large Animal Research Station (in the link to things to see at UAF I posted above) and found the tour there quite worthwhile--getting up close to the musk oxen and the reindeer and learning all about the two species and the work UAF is doing to understand them better. Say hi to Freya The Musk Ox for me.

We also drove about an hour out of the city along Chena Hot Springs Road and hiked Angel Rocks, which was quite nice. Fairbanks lacks large, jagged mountains, but the hike was fairly technical, and the views were quite nice from the rocks at the top. Bring bug dope. For a less vertical walk, the trails at Creamer's Field are lovely and offer sightings of many different types of birds (Fairbanks is famous for their sandhill crane migration, but they're only in town a short time) as you wander through the forests and wetlands. Again, though, bring bug dope--the good stuff. There's a reason the insect-eating birds like it there.

Also, I can't believe I neglected to mention this, but be sure to eat some Thai food while you're there. I have never been able to figure out why, but Fairbanks has attracted seemingly way more Thai restaurateurs per capita than anywhere else I've ever been outside of Southeast Asia. Yelp lists 26 Thai restaurants in a city of 32,000 (and a metro of 100,000). The local favorite--confirmed by me and pretty much everyone I know who has been--seems to be Thai House, though Lemongrass is a close second. The red curry halibut I had last weekend at Lemongrass was fantastic.