PIONEER PARK

Later that day we were in the area of Pioneer Park. It had several small museums; in front of one was this snow motor tractor you can see in the picture. It didn’t prove to be satisfactory, steering was a problem, fuel consumption was excessive and it was very slow. Duh!

There is a square dance hall in the park. It is the northern most square dance hall in the US. We didn’t get to dance there though, darn.

Another museum within the Park was a train museum. The little engine in the picture was used around the mining camps before the regular trains came into the area.

Around the Park were other pieces of old equipment. One was a stamp mill with an amalgam table. Another was a really old dredge type machine. It was totally different than the dredge we saw before, first it was much smaller but it also rode on wheels instead of on a pivot as the other one did. The big wooden wheels were most interesting to me. It must have been really hard to make wheels from wood.

There were wood carvings. The Eskimo was out near the street, also in Pioneer Park. The fish was near the dining room. They serve an “all you can eat dinner that includes fried cod and halibut as well as grilled salmon and halibut, drinks, salads and desserts. They used a very sweet glaze on the grilled fish that we thought detracted from it instead of improving it. Anyway, we had ALL WE COULD EAT. They did a great job of setting it up so there was no waiting anywhere. The buffet had 2, 2 sided lines and each had 2 pans of each item. Meaning 8 people could be serving themselves the same dish all at once. They had another area with drinks, the fish areas were separate and then there was a little cabin where the desserts and coffee were served. They had indoor seating and outdoor as well. It was a beautiful evening so we chose to eat out. I have no idea how many busses came in while we were there but it was a great place to accommodate them. They were through the line in minutes.