Pioneer Park
Photos & Story by Carmen
"Let's go to Alaskaland," my daughter Hilary suggested.
We were doing "The Chena Loop" adventure again. This year we considered going to Valdez for a change, but my daughter's roommate Christina had never been north of Wasilla so we decided to do The Loop to cover the maximum amount of scenery. 
So while in Fairbanks, we stopped and had a fun afternoon at Alaska's only historic theme park. Opened as Alaskaland in 1967, the centennial year of Alaska's purchase from Russia, Pioneer Park contains numerous museums, restaurants, shops, displays of historic equipment and a train ride.
The great charm of Pioneer Park is the many historic buildings and pieces of old equipment and modes of transportation on display. We had a personal reason to enjoy walking through the old sternwheel steamboat Nenana: my uncle, Bill Jefford, spent a season as a fireman (stoking the wood fire that provided the steam) on board the Nenana in the late 1930s or early 1940s. There is also a story in my bush pilot father's book, Winging It by Jack Jefford, about convincing the captain of the Nenana to turn around and transport cargo necessary for building airstrips that were part of the war effort in the 1940s.
My son Jameson was especially interested in the old steam shovel in the mining village, probably because it looked just like the one in the book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel we'd read when he was little.
Most of the restaurants and shops are located in genuine old-time Fairbanks cabins. Plaques on the outside give the history of the cabin and where in Fairbanks it was located before being moved to the Park. Hilary and Christina went into one cabin which had a freezer allowing one to experience the feeling of forty below zero, which incidentally is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales coincide. Jameson and I declined this treat, both of us having attended the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and consequently having experienced -40 as much as we cared to.
I said to Christina, "Pioneer Park illustrates the difference between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Anchorage is younger and has cosmopolitan ambitions. Fairbanks is a pioneer town and proud of it. Anchorage's nickname is 'Air Crossroads of the World.' Fairbanks is known as 'The Golden Heart of Alaska.' "
We rode the train, which loops around the Park twice while a guide fills you in on the history and sights in the Park. This would be a great way to start any visit since it gives you a good overview and helps you get your bearings. A great way to finish up your visit would be to take in the salmon bake in the mining village. Any way you do it, Pioneer Park is a great place to tune in to Alaska's history.
