The North Pole

Friday July 13th 2012

We drove past Denali National Park and Fairbanks on our way to the North Pole, we will stop and visit them on our way back to Anchorage. 

 

We did make a stop at the Alaska Veterans Memorial just south of Denali National Park.  Spent a little time just walking the grounds and looking at the displays. The memorial consists of a semicircle of five 20 foot tall concrete panels, one for each branch of the service and each with a large star on the upper part and inscriptions on the lower part. The memorial was dedicated in 1984.  The site was selected because it was located between Alaska’s two largest cities, Anchorage and Fairbanks, and there is a wonderful view of Mount McKinley from the entrance to the memorial.  Thanks to all the men and women who served in the Armed forces we live in the best country.

 

 

The people of the North Pole want to make sure you know where you are.

  

The first stop we make in a new town is always the visitor center.  The North Pole had a wonderful one, log cabin with a sod roof, the ladies inside were so helpful and friendly.

 

Next to the visitor center they had these cute cutouts and who can resist taking pictures.

  

We had Calzones for dinner at the Elf’s Den, really a lot of food.  The Elf’s den was featured on Dinners Drive Inns and Dives.  they were kind enough to let us spend the night in their parking lot.

Saturday morning we started our tour of the town, a very small town, population 2226

  

North Pole gift shop is the biggest attraction, it is a gift shop named Santa Clause House the modern-day incarnation of a trading post established in the town's early days. The Santa Claus House is known for the world's largest fiberglass statue of Santa Claus outside. Prior to Christmas each year, the  post office in North Pole receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa Claus, and thousands more from people wanting the town's postmark on their Christmas greeting cards to their families. It advertises the ZIP code 99705 as the ZIP code of Santa.

Santa must get a lot mail to have this many mailboxes.

 

Donna with Santa.  She was also interviewed by the Ukrainian Press. It was so exciting Santa and the press all in one day. 

And what would a visit to the North Pole be if you didn’t check on Santa’s Reindeer.  I think this was Blitzen.

You ask did I buy anything at Santa Clause House, what do you think. 

 

If your in the North Pole you have to check out the Alaskan pipeline.