Final destinations: The North Pole & The Arctic Circle (yes, there is a difference)

In the final days of our roadtrip, we ended up in the 2nd largest city in Alaska: Fairbanks. 

At a distance of some 17 miles South from Fairbanks is a small town called North Pole. And with small I mean SMALL. I spoke to a young lady in the streets and she told me that North Pole is 4,6 by 4,6 miles. She can walk it in 20 minutes. 

North Pole was first homesteaded in 1944, and was given its holiday-themed name by a development company selling property and hoping to attract a toy manufacturer that could advertise products as being made in North Pole. The name stuck although a toy factory never materialized.

Notice the Candy cane decorations on the light poles at the side of the street...

In North Pole it is Christmas every day of the year, I read somewhere, but it seemed true. Fastfood places like Mc Donalds and Wendy's feature holiday decorations and trimmings all year – even if it’s 80 degrees in July. You can drive down streets like Santa Claus Lane, Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane or stay the night at Santaland RV Park. 

 The main attraction in North Pole is of course The Santa Claus House. Santa is actually here, every day until 6.00 p.m. We were lucky to step into the place at 5.55 p.m. to snap a quick picture on his lap. I told him I was really good (at being bad), and of course his response was that he already knew this.

Santa Clause House

I can use this picture to persuade my girlfriends' kids that Santa really does exist!

A kiss for all the gifts in my youth. Thank you Santa!

Keith and Lessie with Santa Clause

North Pole’s association with the spirit of Christmas began in earnest in the 1950s by Con Miller. The young trading post operator was well known in rural Alaska for playing Santa Claus for young children in Alaska villages. When he set up a trading post in North Pole, he named it Santa Claus House and today the sprawling store features almost endless aisles of Christmas ornaments and toys and a giant outdoor statue of Santa beckoning in highway travelers.

Christmas ornaments all year round

The most expensive Ornament I saw was 64 dollars. Handpainted from the inside out and will include a DVD on how it is made.

Santa Clause House - entry

Santa Clause House - side wall

The pictures you see on the wall are all tiles. Beautifully done.

Here's Rudolph!

I guess every tourist has this picture of himself

Cute!

 That was a lot of fun. Really. It was like being a kid again. 

Since this trip has been all about glaciers, ice bergs and ice sculptures, I purchased the only appropriate Christmas ornament for myself: 

It once all began with one single snowflake, wouldn't you agree?

The next day, on July 13th, we left our hotel at the crack of dawn for a final excursion trip to: The Arctic Circle. 

As I mentioned in my very first blog: this little day-trip has been high on my personal to-do list.The reward is a picture of a simple sign stating that you are now on the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees. 

The Dalton Highway towards it is nothing but a dirt/gravel road. Officially we are not even allowed to take this road with our rental car, but we just hope that our car isn't tracked by any GPS system and we take our chances. Our car has really great mileage with some 400 miles on a full tank, so off we go. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: the Dalton "Highway"

Notice the Trans Alaska Pipeline, accompanying us on our journey

This big river is the Yukon River. The largest water highway in Alaska.

Time for lunch!

Is this a beautiful picture or WHAT! I love the cloud formations here...

Finally after some 6 hour of driving North, here we are... The Arctic Circle. :)

We finally did it! 

 

 

Here, the 4 seasons of the Arctic Circle and its wildlife are described.
 

Keith and Lessie made a very accurate remark when we stood there... from here on, we are going back home. Literally.... going back South and returning to Anchorage to fly out again... We have reached the most Northern point of our trip and of our lives on our beautiful planet... 

We took our pictures,... and got back in the car.  :) Back to Fairbanks. :) 

We had come across Finger Mountain when we drove up, but wanted to check it out on our way back... and here are some stunning pictures of isolated rock formations, just sitting there alongside the road. Of course we had to find out how these rocks came about. 

The story told is that a volcano erupted underneat the surface of the earth here,... The Magma turned into rocks under the ground. The softer soil surrounding these rocks would freeze in the wintertime, pushing the rocks upwards. 

What a spectacular view, isn't it?

Look closely in the middle of the picture, on the horizon. There you see a rock formation sticking out like a finger. And it is actually called Finger Mountain

The "finger" points directly to Fairbanks, so little planes look for this rock to determine their direction.

Here it is described how the rocks came about, how they were pushed upwards by the icy soil in wintertime.