Spring break...in Alaska?

In the spring of 2010 I was finally convinced that I should begin writing up all of our trips, so beginning with this post, I have notes about what we did, when, and where.  At this late date, I will not recreate the entire newsletter, but here is the gist of it.

For spring break that year, we decided to join my parents on a trip to Alaska, the 49th state for both my Dad and me (he never got Hawaii, and I still need Maine).  Our first flight out was on a little plane that only had 2 seats on each side, so Miriam got to sit by herself across the aisle from us, and she felt very grown-up.  Once in Seattle, we marched through the airport with Miriam holding my hand and Hans holding on to Miriam's elephant backpack (it has a nice long trunk).  He had on his own little yellow M&M backpack and pretended we were a train.  Our little caboose sang "chugga-chugga-choo-choo" most of the way.  I wish we had pictures, but I do know at least a dozen tourists have plenty!

On arrival in Fairbanks, we saw the only wildlife we would see for the entire trip -- two huge stuffed trophy bears, a grizzly and a polar bear.  The tiny airport makes quick work of claiming luggage and a rental car, and we had a quick but extremely expensive pizza before closing our black-out curtains and collapsing into bed.  Fairbanks celebrates March with an ice carving festival and championship.  The ice is cut into huge blocks, and is so crystal clear, you really can read a newspaper through several feet of it.  The entire city is decorated with elaborate ice sculptures.  We toured the festival grounds, played on the ice playground, and feasted on a lunch featuring reindeer sausage, before heading up to North Pole, Alaska.  We did find Santa's workshop, but unfortunately, Santa wasn't there.  Apparently he goes someplace more popular for spring break, like Fort Lauderdale...  But the reindeer were there, and we tried not to regret our sausage lunch too badly.

From North Pole, we continued to Chena Hot Springs, about 60 miles from Fairbanks, at the end of the highway.  There we relaxed in the hot springs, saw the Northern Lights (not a particularly stunning display of the aurora, but at least we did see them), toured their ice museum, and took a dog sled ride.  We did not, however, see any moose or bear, or even deer.  Two chickadees, one squirrel, and dozens of ravens...so much for seeing wildlife!  Chena is "off the grid" and heats all of the buildings using their own geothermal springs.  Which makes perfect sense, of course, but they were unable to control their available heat, and essentially the furnace is either "on" or "off".  We kept the windows wide open, and the staff told us that the doors and windows in the public areas are left propped open all winter, even when it's -50F.  The weather was very pleasant our whole trip, in the 20s overnight and into the 40s in the afternoons, with bright sun and no wind.  Miriam spent the following week telling people that Alaska was hot so that she had to sleep in just her underwear. 

After saying good-bye to the dogs, we headed back to Fairbanks, with another stop in North Pole on the way (Santa was still on vacation).  We were awed by the Alaska Pipeline, toured the visitor's center, a dog-sled racing museum, and found some cookies and fudge to round out our vacation.  Words that we live by:  a vacation is never complete without plenty of dessert.