After we left Dawson City, we had to take a ferry across the river! Then we drove the Top of the World Highway. This had spectacular views and we even saw a heard of caribou. After that we drove onto Fairbanks, AK.
Thankfully Fairbanks had a Planet Fitness and we got to shower. We were so excited! When we looked it up AK didn't have any Planet Fitness's. So we got in an awesome workout, grabbed a shower, ate awesome Mexican food and then headed over to the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO). Brandon and I couldn't help but be grateful that we got to see this and laugh at the same time. It happens for only 3 days out of the year and it was crazy. They were doing stick pull competitions or ear pull competitions (where they put a band around each person's ear and pull until someone gives up). What an interesting experience we had.
That night we slept in Pioneer Park. This park was neat as it was filled with several museums and cabins from the early 1900's that we could walk through with shops in them. After we left Pioneer Park, we headed to the museum at University of Alaska to see a movie on the Northern Lights and tour the North Museum. Did you know the solar lights are caused by solar wind and vary in color due to the height it is? The higher it is the more oxygen dense the air is so the lights are red. Middle area is where it begins to be nitrogen dense over oxygen so they are green and at the bottom it is pink as there is a greater amount of nitrogen. It was such an interesting presentation. We grabbed a few more groceries and then headed off to Denali.