Scrabble/Words With Friends Tip

For the first time on the trip we woke up and didn’t have to pack up and leave.  Before leaving ‘civilization’ and driving toward the Arctic Ocean, we spent a 2nd day in Fairbanks.  The first thing we did was to visit the LARS – Large Animal Research Station, which is part of University of Alaska Fairbanks.

 

The Research Station is a large farm complex where they raise and study caribou, reindeer and muskox.  They offer guided tours, which is what we did.  The tour was very interesting, we learned a lot about the animals and got to see them as well.

Quick Quiz – Look at pictures A and B below – which one is the reindeer?

A.

 

 

B.

 

 

If you guessed B, you are right.  If you are more like me, you didn’t really notice a difference. The guide told us that caribou and reindeer are both members of the same species, they are different sub-species.  Caribou are native to North America and cannot be domesticated, they are also leaner and have longer legs.  Reindeer are not native to North America and are stockier because they have been bred for meat.  They can be domesticated, which is how one would recognize B as the reindeer, it’s wearing a halter.

She also said that when they first opened the research station, they cross-bred the two and got Reinbou’s and Carideer!

The Musk Ox is an unusual-looking animal:

 

 

They told us that they are ancient, ice-age animals.  They have very long outer hair that reaches to the ground like a skirt.  The undercoat is shorter and very soft.  It falls out or can be harvested once a year.  Here is the scrabble tip – the soft undercoat is called qiviut. It can be spun into yarn that is 8 times warmer than wool, softer than cashmere, and really expensive – $80/skein!

Note to Alex and Robert: all the animals have a ‘bulk’ season – they eat as much as possible all summer to gain as much body mass as possible.

After visiting the farm, we had lunch and started getting ready for the trip.  We had stopped by the Alaska Visitor Center yesterday and they recommended that we get tire patches and flares, so even thought Jeff has already packed 3 full-size spares, we go some tire plugs and cans of fix-a-flat.  Just to be super-prepared, we also got a tire inflator that can be plugged into the lighter socket.  So, we are all set to drive the Dalton Highway tomorrow!