Fairbanks: The Town
Besides the visitor centers, the only point of interest downtown is the small Fairbanks Community Museum , 450 Cushman St at 5th Avenue (summer Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; donation requested), containing locally donated trapping and mining and dogsled racing equipment. The museum also acts as the public face of the Yukon Quest dogsled race - a grueling thousand-mile marathon between Fairbanks and Whitehorse - selling related books, videos and T-shirts. A similarly wintry theme is pursued at the Ice Museum , 500 2nd Ave at Lacey Street (summer daily 10am-6pm; $8), a year-round chance to get a taste of the annual Ice Sculpting competition by way of a slide show and walk-in refrigerators housing some small ice carvings.A couple of miles west on the banks of the Chena River, the Alaskaland complex celebrates Alaskan history in a very touristy, but not unpleasant way; admission is free, though different attractions charge small fees. Two reasonable museums cover the early pioneering days, and a miniature railway encircles the entire park; there's plenty here for the kids to do.
From the downtown area, College Road heads west past Creamer's Field , thick with sandhill cranes and Canada geese, especially in spring and fall. Further out, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Museum (summer daily 9am-5pm, closing times vary; $5; tel 907/474-7505), occupies a corner of the attractive campus on the northeastern edge of town and houses some of the state's best examples of Native Alaskan artifacts and pioneer relics, as well as natural and human history displays.
Unashamedly touristy but great fun and very popular is a four-hour cruise down the Chena River on the "Riverboat Discovery" ($40; tel 907/479-6673), which includes a visit to a mock Native village.
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