The North Pole

So, on Wednesday morning July 8th, we left the North Fork of the Chena and headed back into Fairbanks. We did a little shopping in Fairbanks, and then headed back out north to hit the Richardson Hwy to drive to Delta Junction.

However, on our way we drove through North Pole, AK. Now, we all know who lives in North Pole don't we? Yup...Santa Claus!! We HAD to stop at his house since we were driving by! He has the coolest house! It was, of course, all decorated up for Christmas, b/c it is Christmas there all year long. The outside of the house was all painted up with murals of him and his elves, and Mrs. Claus and him on his sleigh with the reindeer pulling it. Speaking of reindeer...they were just outside the house too. Yup...we got to see Santa's reindeer too. We couldn't see Rudolph, he must have been taking a nap. But, I think we saw Prancer and maybe Dasher too. :)

And...we were lucky enough to see Santa!! I missed seeing him last Christmas with Lachlan, so we were excited to get to see him. We of course had to take pics to prove that we actually saw Santa. He is the nicest man! Lachlan had just woken up...actually we woke him up to go in and see Santa, so he was still a little out of it at this point, but he warmed up quick. It was so cute! Santa loved his name, said he doesn't meet many Lachlan's. And, he was great at getting Lachlan to smile at him...Lach kind of just stared at him for a bit, but never did cry.

We got some cute post cards and sent them to our nieces and nephews which was fun. I called my older nephews to tell them where we were, and they thought it was the coolest thing. They told me their Christmas list's so I could put in a personal request with Santa. They also asked if there was snow and if it was cold...which it wasn't...at all. Just an FYI; the North Pole has summer time too...in fact when we were there it was about 95 degrees! It was sooo hot! The reindeer were shedding off their thick winter coats so they looked a little funny..

There were all kinds of Santa's helpers at his house too...and I feel bad for them. Shayne and I had been camping for about 6 days at this point, and granted we went swimming about 2 days earlier, but still...I'm sure we didn't smell so good! And...I had leg/armpit hair that was at least a week long, and I was wearing capri's!! Aaahhh...camping is so much fun!! :)

Anyway...this was probably one of my most favorite things we got to see and do on our trip. How can you not just love going to see Santa Claus at his house?