July 23, 2007

We visited the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. First we went to the Large Animal Research Station. We saw muskox, caribou, and reindeer. Do you know the difference in caribou and reindeer? Reindeer are just domesticated caribou. They are a little shorter. There is another difference. I will let you think about that. We next went into the University Museum of the North. It has artifacts and a lot of history of Alaska. Then to downtown Fairbanks for a film on the Eskimo Olympics. After that we went to the Ice Museum where they showed a video of ice carving. They had large freezer rooms we were able to go into to see some of the carvings from last years competition. They keep the rooms at 20 degrees. Finally, we saw one of the champion carvers from last year carve a snail on a branch. He first drew his design on the block of ice and did the bulk removal with a chain saw and then used rotary instruments to finish it. The other difference between caribou and reindeer is that reindeer can fly.