Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

6/15/25

Continuing on with our time at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, here is a flyer we received when checking in. Everything you could possibly want to know is here.

This is the lobby area:

Guest services for the lodge is located in the lobby.

You can see they had the ever popular jackets for sale at the store here! TIP! Don’t buy them at the lodge, get them at the souvenir shop on the Riverboat Discovery. They were significantly cheaper there.

This is the tour desk with very helpful staff members. They can answer any questions you may have about the land tour portion or even Fairbanks itself and things to do. It’s located just off of the main lobby area.

Here’s a quick little video showing Seasons, the gift shop and coffee house located in the lobby:

This was great for a quick breakfast, snack or coffee. They also had a great variety of souvenirs here.

It was 1:30 p.m. and we were getting hungry for lunch. We decided to eat at Trackers Bar and Grill in the lodge. (Erik was still out running around outside and would meet up with us later.)

My daughter and I split the Parmesan BLT and fries.

This was really tasty and we were glad we split it because we knew we were going to get dessert.

My other daughter had Chicken Fingers and Mandarin Oranges.

These were not tenders at all, but little nuggets. They were just okay.

For dessert, we ordered the Baked Alaska with Huckleberry Ice Cream.

This was really good! I loved the huckleberry ice cream with it!

We visited the Tour Desk because we wanted to get into the actual town of Fairbanks.

The Lodge had a shuttle for $10 per person round trip. It stopped at 4 different places…our lodge, the Westmark Hotel (which is the hotel that Holland America uses, and Princess may use as an overflow accommodation), the Morris Thompson Cultural Center, and Pioneer Park.

We decided to take the 3 p.m. shuttle to the Morris Thompson Cultural Center. The shuttle picked up right outside the doors where the Tour Desk is.

We chose to get off at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center. It was a very short drive to get into town. The shuttle bus dropped us right near the front door.

Outside before we went in, was a little cabin. This cabin is one of the oldest structures in its original locations in downtown Fairbanks. You can see the timeline of it in the photo below:

We were able to walk inside and look around as well.

Once inside the main building, we were greeted with this sign. Almost 22 hours of daylight the day we were there!

This center had exhibits showing how the people of Alaska live, work and play in interior Alaska.

Besides exhibits, there was a theater with different showings throughout the day.

The different cultural objects and works of art were amazing!

Overall, we loved this visitor center! There was so much information and so many displays. It’s definitely worth a stop if you have time in Fairbanks. You can even walk here from the Westmark Hotel.

Right outside you can find an antler arch. This arch is made up of antlers collected from all over interior Alaska. It’s right next to the river. It was such a warm day and we saw several kayakers and tubers floating.

After leaving the visitor center, we decided to walk into the actual town and check out some shops on our way back to the Westmark Hotel. There were only a few stores and restaurants on our trek. It actually was pretty dead in the town! We did find a few very cool walls though.

We made it back to the Westmark for the 5:30 p.m. shuttle pick up. Once back at the lodge, we decided to eat dinner at Tracker’s again.

My husband ordered the Chena Nachos and they were fine.

My daughter and I shared the Tanana River Burger and Fries. This was also fine. It was kind of small for $19, but the taste was fine.

My other daughter ordered the Pasta with Butter from the kid’s menu. This was a super big disppointment for her! It was gnocchi, which is not typically the kind of pasta that comes in a regular restaurant. And the butter was literally on the side in a dish.

That concluded our day in Fairbanks! We were glad we got to see the “town” and learn a little bit more about the native culture to this area. The food was semi-disappointing at the lodge.

But up next…the Fairbanks Riverboat Discovery!