Plug it UP

This was our first time to visit Fairbanks, Alaska.  We flew in in the late afternoon, about 7:00, and were treated to the sight of Fairbanks spread out over the undulating tundra.  As far as you could see was a green rolling countryside, occasionally broken  by streams, with this small city sitting in the middle of it.  There is one road that goes in and out, which connects eventually to Anchorage and the coast.  The airport consists of the standard runways and several lakes, which have been created to accommodate the small float planes.   Air travel is the most common method of travel in this part of the state.  In fact, we saw several homes with airplanes parked in the drive, much like we would motor homes.

Fairbanks is a city of extremes.  The climate is extremely dry and extremely cold.  Their average snowfall is 8 inches, but remember, it won't be melting off.  Their temperatures dip down to 30 to 40 degrees below zero.  Which is what you would expect from a city located just 200 miles from the artic circle.  We arrived the last of August to beautiful fall weather.  The temperature was a mild 62 degrees with lots of sunshine.  We were assured that it doesn't last.  Mid-September is when they start to experience the beginning of winter.  From August on the days grow shorter quickly until eventually the sun just doesn't ever really come up.  They will have months of dusk, near dark, and dark.

As usual we took off the next morning to explore the city.  We were dropped off at the park running along the Chena river.  It was a beautiful walk from there to the main part of town.  The park, like all the places we saw in Alaska, was overflowing with flowers. Giant flowers!  Sunflowers, nasturtiums, pansies, cone flowers, daisy's, sultanas, and lots I didn't know the names of.   The flowers seem to grow especially beautiful as though to make up for the dark days of winter.

We were sitting in a coffee shop later that morning enjoying a latte when I looked out the window and noticed something that intrigued me.  Hanging from the parking meter in front of the shop was a plug, like the end of an extension cord.  I started looking and noticed that all the cars pulled up to the meters had a cord hanging out from the grill on the front.  We found out that there were plugs all over the town so people could plug up the engine heaters in their cars.  Without the heaters the cars would quickly get so cold that they wouldn't start up again when the owners returned.  All winter when the temperatures plummeted people would pull in, plug up and do their shopping.  One girl confessed that when plugs weren't available she just left her car running.  She laughed and said, that she even left it running when she went to the movies..  Better than no transportation at the end of the movie, I guess.

Somehow the fact that you could plug your engine heater in  while you shopped just fascinated me.  If cars require such extreme care to function in that climate, how do the people keep going.  I live in a state where if it gets to 5 below zero we practically close down the state.  The ability of people to thrive and live in conditions that seem unbelievable to me is wonderful.  Of course, they probably think our summer temperatures of 100 degrees (which it was at home while we were there) are totally beyond bearing. 

Amazing.