HO! HO! HO! A VISIT WITH SANTA AT NORTH POLE

We visited and inspected all of the missionary apartments in the Fairbanks last week. Two of the apartments are located in a small city some eleven miles to the south that is named "NORTH POLE." I should have taken more pictures of the businesses, etc. around the city because the motif is definitely Christmas and Santa Claus - light posts looked like candy canes in the business district. However, we were looking for apartment addresses and I didn't stop for pictures until we ran into the SANTA CLAUS HOUSE. Sister C. was more than game for a stop and a few purchases. So we stopped.

HO!

HO!

HO!

The following pictures are on the outside of the building.

These murals are on tile.

Oh, Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum...

Even Santa has a love life.

Yes Siree!

"This is the right place."

"Shop first and then drive on."

Sorry Brigham....

Before we went in, we had to inspect the reindeer.

As you can see, the velvet is coming off the antlers.
They sure weren't like the reindeer we saw in Palmer!

She's hard to see, but that is Sister C. to the left in black

The soldier was several feet taller than I am.

Another large Santa.

These two pictures are of a large Creche.

It would be large enough for a front lawn.

Another "wooden" soldier -- several feet tall.

Ornaments --

Very expensive nut crackers!

I liked the cats on the tree ornament.

Build your very own village.

Several motifs - this one for leather clad bikers!

Check out the brewery on the bottom shelf.

On the top was a collection of old memorabilia.

That's a fairly good likeness of Clark Gable...

Not that I give a d-mn, My dear.

We have that particular creche at home and it

cost a lot less that this one did.

Stuff that looks like the late 1940's.

And, of course, we have a slay for a musher and

his huskies. (I wanted to buy this but the cost was

something like $56.00. Expensive Popsicle sticks!

A likeness of Bullwinkle -- notice that the price of this

carving is $750.00.

Another Santa -- my height this time.

Check out the size of this moose -- the one on the right, I mean.

He was as expensive as he was tall.

This was a cute T shirt for kids -- tempting!

I loved this one! The John Deere emblem with a

jumping moose!

Another one for Grand kids.

I believe in you Pan, I believe in you!

Oops, wrong fairy, er Elf.

In case you are asking yourself if we bought anything, we did. Three Alaska, Christmas House ornaments, a large Santa book, suitable for entertaining the Grand Kiddlies, and two little knives. Mine say Rodney on one side and Santa Claus House on the other. Sister C's say World's best Grandma on it. Mine is the same as the knife I bought in Yellowstone two summers ago except that it has Rod one one side and "Jellystone" on the other.

DENALI AND HEALEY

Last week, we drove a new vehicle to a set of elders in Fairbanks and drove their old truck back to the Mission headquarters. (When a vehicle has gone over 50,000 miles, the people in Salt Lake tell us to detail the vehicle and sell it.) Normally, Elder Palmer, who is in charge of the car fleet does that duty. But, he and sister Palmer were handling other vehicles and also some housing problems, so they pressed us into taking the job. Also, while we were there, Sister Palmer instructed us to inspect all of the missionary apartments, which we did.

We left Thursday morning the 27th of Sept. and drove back on Saturday the 29th. In commentary about the three day assignment, if a missionary couple are allowed to take a three day "vacation" while on a mission, I guess that is kind of what we did. While we were doing official work, we were also able to see the "sights" going and coming, stayed in a nice motel room for two days, and, drive all over Fairbanks -- all in the name of mission work.

Here are a few of the sights we saw on the trip

(Just a recommendation, after you've read the post,
look at the pictures enlarged, especially of the
mountain.)

While driving north, we could see this majestic mountain
in the distance, which continued to grow and grow and grow.
And, seeings how we were on the Lord's errand, we got
to see the mountain "without" cloud cover -- sort of.

and the other peaks adjacent to it.

Even though the day was cloudless, I guess that

Mount McKinley has an ever present cloud over the

summit most of the time. We were very grateful

for what we were able to see.

Peaks to the South...

and, further South.

(Toward the North of the peak.)

These pictures definitely do not do this mountain
justice. We watched it grow larger from over a hundred
miles away. It "explodes" skyward over 20,300 feet into the air. 
It is one of, if not the most imposing and awe inspiring things
 that I have ever seen in my life. It left me in complete awe
 and wonder.

Sister C. at a view area, complete with telescopes.

The natives (in the Athabascan language)

call the mountain DENALI, which means The Tall One.

Hence, the park in which it is situated is called Denali

National Park.

Sister C.going to another view area.

Moi, coming down.

One of the signs we read said that Denali is the tallest mountain peak in the world considering the full height of the mountain from the base to the summit.

-----------------------------------------

The following pictures are mainly for Cari,

who spent last summer working in the park

and living in Healy.

Filling station, cafe, etc.

A newly fallen skiff of snow on the lawn.

Town sign

We're not sure if this is where the workers...

lived or not, but on the outside chance...

it was, I included these pictures.

This is the beast that I drove back.

I think that this is one of the tour buses of the

resort where Cari worked.

Speaking of which, this is the resort where she worked.

It's the Princess Lodge -- or something like that.

As you can see, it's all closed up for the winter.

Businesses across the street...

more businesses...

and, more businesses.

This is the Nenana River...

a tributary of the Tenana River --

Big deal you say? The Tenana river is a "big sucker"
so to speak. We crossed that river and saw 3 or 4
large low-draft barges that are used during the summer
for the fishing industry.

Another shot of the Chev

Another resort on the top of another butte.

A sign announcing the park...

and another at the entrance.

A view of the road in the park...

road sign within the park..

This is another resort you can see through the

opening in the trees.

It is located on the other side of the highway and
and the river.