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Sunday, July 2, 2017

Nenana

We took some time to drive up the road to the little town of Nenana, mainly to see if we could get some Wi-Fi and cell service. I figured the kids were worrying about us by now since we haven’t been online for a few days. The library was closed, but they did have secured Wi-Fi and luckily Dana was up there and knew the password. It wasn’t the fastest, but at least I could get on Facebook to post that we were OK.
The town was quaint, but has a nice little history. It's located at the confluence where the Nenana River enters the Tanana River.  It’s best known for the Nenana Ice Classic, an annual event that awards cash prizes to the lucky winners who guess the exact minute of the ice breakup on the Tanana River. The contest has been a spring highlight since 1917. Ice Classic tickets are sold in Alaska from February 1 through April 5. Mr. Charley and I bought one (thanks to “Marge” the sweet lady at the Visitor Center).
The festivities begin the last weekend in February with the Tripod Raising Festival and culminate at breakup time in late April or May. When the surging ice on the Tanana River dislodges the tripod, a line attached to the tripod trips a clock located in a tower atop the Ice Classic office, thus recording the official breakup time.
For more info, go to www.nenanaakiceclassic.com  Trust me, this is BIG stuff!
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I love these sod roofed cabins.

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That’s Mr. Charley calling me in to meet “Marge”. She had her husband (of 57 years) back his pickup truck under the hanging flower pots so she could trim them! Needless to say, God bless this town when she’s gone, since I’m sure no one can sell the history of this place better than her.
Like most of these small towns, there’s an old Railroad Depot,Cultural Center and Gift Shop.
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What really caught our eye was St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. This little log building, built in 1905 is always open to the public. It has hand-hewn pews and a raised altar decorated with Native beaded moose hide hangings.
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Of course, nothing beats these signs on the stall of the ladies room!
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We got  back to Anderson with time to spare for our Loosey Goosey group Happy Hour!

Have a good one everybody, we sure are.

RV Riding is getting to see some cool old stuff & meeting folks who can tell you about before it’s too late


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