Visitor's Industry Walk for Charity

The Visitor Industry's Walk for Charity will be held in downtown Fairbanks on May 14, 2010 beginning at 6:00pm. The walk begins at the Immaculate Conception Church Parking Lot and winds through downtown to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor's Center. This walk is a 4K graze from food booths set up along the route to feed walkers with event bibs. Registration is $25 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-12. Those that register before mid-night on May 10 will be eligible for prizes. Register early as walkers who register after May 10 will not be eligible for prizes and will be charged an additional fee of $5. All proceeds from the event will be donated to a charity of your choice. You may choose the amount you wish each non-profit to receive from a list of 50 registered organizations. Bring your family, friends or form a team and enjoy the food and fun.

The walk is sponsored by local businesses including restaurants, hotels, bed and breakfasts and non-profit organizations and organized by the local chapter of the Alaska Tourism Industry Association and the Fairbanks Convention and Visitor's Bureau. All walkers must complete a registration form which may be obtained at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor's Center or online http://explorefairbanks.com/charity-walk.

A Fairbanks Glacier

Fairbanks does not have any remaining glaciers. The weather is too warm. One of our local residents, John Reeves, has created his own mountian of ice. In the winter, John sticks a pipe into a natural srings and directs the water upward. Here is the result. The mountain will be here all summer and is located across the street from the visitor's center at the Trans-Alaska Gas Pipeline.

Alpenglow's Beautiful Sunsets

The evening sky in Fairbanks has been breathtakingly beautiful the past couple of weeks. For those wondering why, here is a great explaination.

Another beautiful atmospheric optical phenomenon is the alpenglow. The late photographer Galen Rowell once wrote, "When dramatic color sorting occurs as the sunlight travels through the thickest air near the horizon, all white light vanishes and the magic hour arrives." It is easy to understand why photographers are so attracted to this phenomenon. If the sky is clear, alpenglow is observed right at sunrise and sunset, usually on the sides of mountains. It is seen only at these times because this is when the sunlight must pass through the greatest amount of atmosphere. When the sun is high in the sky, its light takes the shortest route through the atmosphere and to Earth's surface. But when the sun is close to the horizon, the light spends a far greater time in our atmosphere. This extra time in the atmosphere means extra distortion of light with shorter wavelengths, like blues and greens. The longer waves of red and orange light are not affected in the same way, and travel through the atmosphere largely undistorted. This light strikes the mountainside, and the mountain seems to glow an orangey pink. Catch it quickly, as it lasts for only a minute or two.

My Grandma and Her BFF

My grandmother, Margaret Stephenson, celebrated her 100th birthday last month at the Pioneer’s Home.

A number of fellow residents at the home joined the family for chocolate cake and the happy birthday song in acknowledgement of grandma’s astonishingly long life. Up until just a few years ago when she first needed assisted living, she lived alone, drove a car, brought her groceries, cooked her meals, grew flowers in the summer, and every Friday morning - come hail or high water grandma followed a long standing ritual of going to see Bunny at the beauty shop to get her “hair fixed.”

As grandma aged, many family members asked her to tell them stories of her life. She retired as a buyer for a department store when she was 62. When my son was a boy he once asked her what merchandise she bought for the store. She replied, ready-to-wear. She had to explain that when she started her working career most stores sold only piece-goods or cloth to make clothes. Now they sell clothes that are ready-do-wear!

In her last years of living independently, grandma had a close circle of lady friends, some older, some younger. She took great delight in being the only one in the circle that still drove and had a car. She drove the ladies to outings for lunch, to the grocery store, or for a morning of shopping. One of the ladies in the group was Bobbie Overton. You cannot imagine my surprise when my sister-in-law tapped me on the shoulder and reintroduced me to Bobbie at the birthday party. Bobbie, also a resident of the Pioneer’s Home, was 100 in September. Bobbie’s friendship to grandma remains stead fast and untarnished by grandma’s failing memory. Bobbie is grandma’s B.F.F, her last best friend
forever.

In this day and age we often hear of people who live 100 years. And, while we acknowledge reaching 100 as remarkable, most people don’t stop to think of the history and events that occurred in this country during grandma’s and Bobbie’s lifetimes. My grandmother was born in 1908 at home to parents who drove a horse and buggy. Teddy Roosevelt was President. The U.S. flag had 45 stars. Her first presidential vote saw Calvin Coolidge elected. The first movie she saw was silent. While many “modern inventions” were in operation by 1908, most were not common in the households of a country girl like my grandmother. She remembers seeing her first telephone, automobile, flush toilet, and my son recalls her sharing her amazement at seeing her first airplane. Her first washing machine cost $33.50.

These two ladies had grandparents that fought in the Civil War, saw their brothers go off to the first and second World Wars, and sent their own sons to Korea and Vietnam to fight the battle of the cold war. Grandma was about the same age during the Russian revolution in 1917 as her great granddaughter was in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down. Never did it occur to either of them that they would live long enough to travel on a jet plane, watch movies at home on a television, carry a telephone in their purse, or that grandma would start her car from inside the house.

Grandma liked to come to the Inn and visit with the guests. On a summer day, you would sometime find us on the sun porch playing Scrabble, having a cup of tea, and eating from her tin of home made fudge. Grandma’s fudge and her life are well revered by family and friends, and by guests who chanced to meet her. Now that grandma no longer makes fudge, I would like to share her recipe and this story of two ladies who have lived 100 remarkable years so you may share it with your best friend forever.

Grandma’s Fudge

1 ¾ cups white sugar
1 can evaporated milk (5.3 oz)
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups miniature white marshmallows
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole pecans

In a large saucepan mix milk and sugar and cook at medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture bubbles (approximately 4 minutes). Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and marshmallows. Stir until melted and add salt and vanilla. Stir in pecans and pour into an 11x 13 dish sprayed with Pam.





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