Hi everyone! Wendell here. I'm beginning my trip in the city where I was born, which is Fairbanks, Alaska. Within an hour or two of my birth, I was off seeing Alaska with Shiloh, her husband, and her mother- and father-in-law!
The very first thing we did was visit a bush plane. I'll be traveling on lots of planes so I'd better get used to it! Uh, hopefully the front window of the planes I travel on will NOT be covered with plastic sheeting.
I also got to hitch a ride on a dogsled! Okay, we didn't actually go anywhere because there wasn't any snow and the humans wouldn't agree to being hitched up to it. Harumph! A rabbit can dream though, can't he?
Where's Wendell? This is an example of a trapper's cabin. Good thing there weren't any trappers around to try and catch me!
Then we visited Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. While normally I prefer all things lapine, the bird refuge was really interesting. It's on the site of an old dairy farm that was made into a bird refuge. Thousands or maybe even millions of birds stop by every year while migrating! In the background you can see some Sandhill Cranes and the old dairy buildings. Those were some big birds!
Our next stop was the local feed store! The humans needed to stock up on food for their pet bunnies. What nice folks! Here I am with an Alaska Grown T-shirt. Lots of people here wear them. I'm Alaska grown, why isn't there a shirt small enough for me?!
These are some fur hats that were made locally. Kind of creepy if you ask me, but they're supposed to be very warm for those poor minimally furred humans!
Mmm, smoked salmon! Okay, bunnies don't eat salmon, but it's supposed to be good.
Look, a great big jug of beer! This bottle is from a popular local brewery called Silver Gulch.
Finally, what we came for! A gigantic bag of bunny food. Mmmm, made me hungry!
Apparently the humans were getting hungry as well because our next destination was Hot Licks, a small local company that makes delicious ice cream.
Rabbits can't eat ice cream, so we also stopped by Shave Ice Sisters for some Hawaiian shave ice. It's a brand new little bitty business run by some very nice young women. One of them posed with me for a photo...
And made me a delicious caramel apple shave ice! She said it was her favorite and that's why I ordered it. I agree: Yummy.
After our snack, we headed out to investigate the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. This is the great big pipe that pumps crude oil from Prudhoe Bay in Northern Alaska to Valdez in Southern Alaska. It is huge and hundreds of miles long!
This cross section of the Pipeline gives you an idea of how large it is.
After our big adventure, we headed back to Shiloh's house and I got to commune with the resident rabbits. This little fellow, Ned, was very intent on eating dandelions, but he was quite a friendly chap and I think we would be great pals! I would have enjoyed chatting longer, but the humans had a surprise for me...
A local street AND a bridge were named in my honor! How splendid. Not everyone can say that, ya know!
What an exciting day. The next day I knew I would be off to my next adventure, so I made sure to get a good night's sleep. You know how tiring traveling can be!
Thankfully, the humans made me a nice and cozy traveling box. I said goodbye to my new friends (minus Shiloh, who was manning the camera)....
Then climbed into my first class travel accommodations!
My next stop is Houston, Texas, where I will be spending time with forum member Woahlookitsme. Hopefully she has sunblock for me. I'm sure Texas is pretty different from Alaska and I can't wait to get there! Check back soon!