The Wagner Family at Christmas

Auburn, Foster, Zach, Camden

Nanny and Pops

Scott, Buffy, Shelley, Scott

Wagner Family Christmas 2010

SHELLEY AND SCOTT

NANNY AND POPS

BUFFY AND SCOTT

THE ADULTS HAD AS MUCH FUN AS THE KIDS!!!

Lunch at Chatanika Lodge

Sunday after church we hopped in the TOY and drove to Chatanika Lodge on the Steese Hwy for lunch.

Bringing in the BIG ONES!!!

Here is proof that the fish got bigger as we caught more. Pat holds his catch -- it is a Whopper!!! The picture to the right shows Nancy bringing in a big ones.

MORE PICTURES OF OUR VALDEZ FISHING TRIP

We had lots of fun while fishing. Pat wears his "safety" glasses while Nancy wears the "Big Fish" Luck of the Irish Hat!

Cindy's Day Five

Today was a "Moose Wonderful" Day!!!

We saw a cow moose and her calf on our way to Chena Hot Springs. We also visited the Ice Museum for another "cool" activity!!!

Cindy's Visit -- Day Seven

CindyMakes Friends with Santa

We began the day with a late breakfast (8:30 am) at Sam’s Sourdough Café. Cindy had sourdough pancakes (delicious)!!!

After breakfast we headed to the Farmer’s Market, a “must see” in Fairbanks. In addition to lots of fresh organic vegetables and beautiful flowering plants, the market presents some very talented local artists and their beautiful and amazing wares.

We visited Santa at North Pole, AK. Cindy was 2^nd in line with all the kids who wanted a chance to sit on Santa’s lap. We know him personally. He was looking for Russ to see if he has been a good boy in 2010.

Our next stop was Pioneer Park (Alaskaland), a wonderful community park with lots of activity and lots to see and buy. Cindy had an opportunity to “feel” what it is like at 40 below zero temperatures. See the picture to prove she experienced 40 below and survived!

A trip to the famous truck stop, know as Hill Top, wrapped up our last day with Cindy. We are very sad to see her visit with us come to an end.Therefore we needed some comfort food. Hill Top is known for its famous homemade pies. People travel many miles just to get a piece of homemade pie at the Hill Top Truck Stop!

Cindy's Visit -- Day Six

Cindy’s Visit – Day Six (Cultural Day)

Downtown Fairbanks and the UAF Museum of the North were the highlight of Day Six.

We visited the Fairbanks Visitor’s Center…Morris Thompson Cultural Arts Center. Beautiful displays with awesome murals depict the seasons of Fairbanks. This was a great way to start our Cultural Day in Fairbanks!

After getting a little culture, Cindy was able to meet the great-grandson (Nick Stepovich) of the infamous Soapy Smith who was a late 19th century American confidence man and gambler. He was known as the "king of the frontier confidence men.” He was a brave man who was loyal to his gang, friends, and family. His motto was “Get it while the get’ins good.” Nike owns a local downtown restaurant named “Soapy Smith’s” where we had lunch.

While at Soapy Smith’s, Cindy had the opportunity to meet the owner of Chena Hot Springs, Bernie Karl. Bernie has engineered a geo-thermal plant at Chena Hot Springs and hopes to inspire the production and use of alternative energy all over Alaska.

We moved on to some downtown shops. The picture shows Cindy with a “Wooden Lady” in front of the most visited gift shop in Fairbanks, the “If Only” shop.

A Dinner Cruise on the Sternwheeler Tanana Chief wrapped up a wonderful day of Alaska Native Culture!!!

Cindy's Visit -- Day Four

North to Alaska, The Rush is On!!!

We traveled to a Gold Mine on day four and panned for gold. We started our ride to the mine on a small train with Earl Hughes (a local country music singer) entertaining us. We helped him sing a Johnny Horton song entitled, North to Alaska. After panning for gold we had it weighed. Cindy's is worth over $14.00 and mine was worth a little over $11.00. Russ had the largest amount worth a little over $19.00. Oh well....I don't think you could say that any of us struck it rich!!!

We also visited the Alaska Pipeline and learned how a "pig" is used to clean the line. Our next stop was the riverboat discovery. Before loading the boat, Cindy was able to talk with Lance Mackey, a four time Iditarod winner. He has also won the Yukon Quest at least three times. He won both of them back-to-back two years in a row! See the great picture of Cindy, Lance, and his lead dog. The Riverboat Discovery took us to an native village where we learned about the Athabaskan Native Culture.

Cindy's Visit -- Day Three

6:45 am -- We checked out of our room and headed to the Wilderness Access Center to catch the bus to the Eielson Visitor's Center, which is at the 66 mile marker within Denali National Park.

Although we were scheduled to catch the 7:30 am bus, we were there in time for the 7:00 am departure and learned that Wendy Heskins (the best "green bus" driver they have) was the driver for the earlier bus. We were fortunate to get on Wendy's bus. She is an expert on the park and loves to talk. We got a great narrated tour.

We saw more wildlife than we have ever seen in one trip!!! We saw a grizzly bear and wolf up close and personal!!! We also saw lots of caribou, some red fox, about 10 grizzly bears, another wolf, and a couple of moose (at a distance). Best of all --- we saw the peaks of Mt. McKinley!!! Only 25%-30% of the folks who visit the park each year get to see the "great" mountain!! We are thrilled that we were blessed with a good view of her on a day that we thought would be cold and rainy and would have no chance of seeing her. It was GREAT! What a wonderful and fun day we had! Enjoy the pictures we have to share....by the way we took many, many more pictures...we are only posting the BEST of the BEST on the blog.

Although this will take you away from our blog site you can click on the link below to view more photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/popswagner/CindySAlaskanVisit?feat=email#

Cindy's Visit -- Day Two

6:45 am -- We loaded our overnight bags, cameras, jackets, snacks and water in the car and headed to our first stop for the day, the Cookie Jar. After breakfast with Russell's retired buddies (George, Tom, and Dave), we headed to Denali National Park. Upon our arrival, Russ (who just turned 62) got his lifetime senior national park pass!!!

12:20 pm -- The Husky Homestead bus picked us up at the Princess Wilderness Lodge for the tour of Jeff King's Husky Homestead. We held Alaskan Husky puppies and learned how they are bread, named, and trained for running in the Iditarod.

We had a delicious dinner at The Salmon Bake. Cindy and I had Alaskan King Salmon and Russ had Halibut.

After cruising through several gift shops we made our way (in the pouring rain) back to our room for TV and a good night's sleep.

Cindy's Visit -- Day One

On Sunday afternoon, we drove to Delta Junction, 100 miles south of Fairbanks, for a Buffalo Burger and an Alaskan Blueberry Milkshake. Everybody should try a Buffalo Burger!!! The Blueberry Milkshake is to die for!! As we started down the road, Russ reminded us that the drive would be filled with lots and lots of beautiful scenery...no shopping....no places to potty...just scenery! We decided it would be a good idea to go to the restroom at Fred Myer's after filling the car up with gas.

The high temperature on Sunday was 68 degrees with sunny skies!!!! Although we had rain in the afternoon, the day was a wonderful way to introduce Cindy to a Fairbanks summer.

We had a wonderful dinner at Pike's Landing on the Chena River. Our table at the window gave us a great view of the river and all of the activities. We saw canoes, a kayak, river boats, water skiers, the Tanana Chief Paddle Boat, and a homemade float held together with duck tape. In addition, a small float plane landed next to the deck just outside the window where we were seated!

After dinner, we enjoyed a relaxing time in the hot tub on our deck! With the sun still shining, we headed to bed around 10:30 pm.

Third Anniversary in Fairbanks

Three years ago today, we arrived in Fairbanks. Wow...time sure does pass quickly! We have made many friends, seen many places, ate much food (including Hot Licks Homemade Ice Cream), and had many adventures.

After three years as superintendent of FNSBSD, I am looking forward to a slower pace. I will be teaching a class in the college of business at Wayland Baptist University this fall. Being an adjunct faculty member will allow me to have flexibility and more freedom in my schedule.

Russ took this picture today of Kody and Shakey chilling out on a Sunday afternoon!

Today is Buffy's birthday...Happy Birthday Buffy!

June 10, 2010

Another beautiful day in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

June 30th will be Nancy's last day serving as school superintendent for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. She is looking forward to a less stressful, slower paced life! You can view some short videos created in conjunction with her retirement reception that was held on June 1, 2010. The video below was included with her monthly electronic newsletter, Notes from Nancy. You can view the 2nd video by going to the district's home page at http://www.k12northstar.org/.