Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs, The Northern Lights, The Arctic Circle, and The Ice Park in Alaska

Describing Alaska, even with a camera might be nearly impossible. People in Texas think that the Lone Star State is like a whole other country, which is true, but considering that Alaska is more than twice as large as Texas, we might think that Alaska is like a HUGE country by itself, but almost without a living soul.

After getting to the airport, I was taken directly to Chena Hot Springs. It was my understanding that the Fairbanks area was GENERALLY not windy, and while I was still just wearing jeans and a hoodie, it did not feel cold in Fairbanks, but after driving 56 miles to Chena Hot Springs things changed. I checked in and almost immediately went to my room to put on thermal underwear, wool socks, a vest, a jacket, snow boots, and feet warmers.

At 7:00 PM, when the sun had barely set, I went to the ice museum. The outside thermometer read 9°F (-13°C). As it was 27°F (-3°C) inside and the wind was not blowing it felt warm inside.

I decided not to try the apple martini that was offered in an ice glass, as I wanted to stay awake and see the northern lights for the first time.

At around 10:00 PM a military snow coach drove us to the top of a hill. This took about half an hour. Up there it was still breezy, so we waited inside a cabin to see the aurora. As I waited outside for a few minutes, I noticed that I’d never seen so many stars before, but as beautiful as the night sky looked, it felt terribly cold. I still consider myself cold natured, but the tripod that I was holding was freezing my fingers despite the mittens, and wool socks and feet warmers were not enough to keep my toes warm. I felt like I was about to get frostbite.

I decided to stay inside most of the time, until someone saw the aurora borealis. At around 1:30, a few streaks of green light were visible on the east side, but not enough to be captured on my camera.

The next morning I was allowed to try some other activities until 3:00 PM. When I made a reservation, there was only one night available (thank God, as it saved me lots of money!). Luckily, I was able to do everything I would’ve done if I would've stayed longer between that night and the day after. I would’ve missed lots of things if I had not gone back to Fairbanks.

I went into the hot springs. I smelled some sulfhydric acid (H2S) which smells like rotten eggs, but I’m good at breathing with my mouth. The water is supposedly at around 110°F (43°C) year-round. It comes out much hotter, but it is cooled by water from the river in order for people to bathe. The water vapor immediately turned to snow that deposited on the spruces, the wind carried it back to the spring and did not melt until it reached the surface of the of the hot water. As I was going out, a guy told me I had snow on my hair. How the snow managed to stay in my hair and how the water made me feel warm even though it was probably in the teens (-12° to -7°C) I still can’t explain.

After I had dried most of my hair, I went dog sledding. The musher said that the black and white dog that is seen in the front had saved her life, as she was lost and guided her and the rest of the dogs back home. I do not remember how long it took them to get back, but I believe it might've been days.

I had one last tour after lunch. Chena Hot Spring’s goal is to reduce or eliminate its carbon footprint, so they use the energy coming out of the springs to heat the cabins and maintain a temperature near 25°F (-4°C) at the ice museum. They grow their own lettuce and tomatoes, and they might someday use only meat, eggs, and milk from their own animals.

I was driven back to Fairbanks. At this time I had under slept, as I had waken up at 2:30 AM central time (11:30 PM in Alaska) to get on a plane at 5:00 AM. I had gone back to bed nearly at 3:00 AM (Alaska time) trying to see the Aurora. Thant means I had been awake for nearly 28 hours the day before, only to sleep for 6 hours... I got back at around 5:00 PM, it was time for a light snack for dinner. I asked the lady at the front desk if she could call me if the northern lights were visible. She said yes, and so she did at 11:30 PM, and this is KIND OF what I saw:

No, what the camera captured is not exactly the same as what my eyes saw (except for the moose who showed up as the lights vanished), and surprisingly, I learned that both the stars and the northern lights are captured better when there are some city lights around. While I love my Canon Powershot SX50, it was not made to capture the true beauty of the night sky and the aurora borealis. 

Next day was the day of the Arctic Circle tour, a 16-hour tour that would go to the Arctic Circle and come back, stopping multiple times along the way to have a potty break and to take some pictures. The tour departed from Fairbanks, a city where you find most major US stores, businesses, and restaurants such as Sam's, Carl's Jr. (instead of Whataburger), H&R Block, Pizza Hut, Walmart, Lowe's, etc.

On the highway, instead of restrooms we had outhouses. As I'm no fan of germs I prepared myself to keep visits at a minimum and to make them as quick as possible. An outhouse is basically a toilet on top of a hole, where everything that goes to it freezes this time of the year. Sanitizing wipes were available inside the bus. 

Temperatures were nearly steady around 12°F (-11°C) all day long as we drove north and northwest. Near the Arctic circle, you can see the Brooks range to the north. The Yukon river was completely frozen and covered with snow.

As the sun set near the Arctic Circle, temperatures quickly dropped to 0°F (-18°C), and as we were going back, the thermometer had dropped to -3°F (-20°C) when we stopped at the White Mountains, it was also breezy. An icy dew formed on the windows inside the bus, the aurora was visible on the highway but I was unable to capture it with this camera.

We stopped in Joy, and just like they did at Chena Hot Springs, the promised hot soup was simply ramen noodles. The temperature had risen to 14°F (-10°C) and it was not as breezy so it felt "pleasantly warm" for a few minutes. 

I went to bed at nearly 3:00AM and woke up right before 9:00AM to get some breakfast, went back to bed, ate lunch, took a shower, and walked to Pioneer Park. Temperatures were in the upper teens (around -7°C), but as it was sunny and the wind was calm, I felt comfortable walking with two cotton shirts, thermal underwear, mittens, and a hoodie.

After ordering Pizza Hut I got ready to take the Sirius Dog Aurora Cabin tour. I initially thought I shouldn't've done it as I would not be able to capture the pictures as they looked like without the city lights, but as it was already paid, I decided to go anyway. The owner lives in a cabin near Murphy Dome, and this shows some of the lights that I saw (both the lights and the stars looked much better):

The last day in Fairbanks had to include the city tour and a visit to the ice park at night. We started at the Morris Visitor Center, then the Pipeline that goes from Valdez to Prudhoe Bay ( the same one I saw all the way from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle two days before), the Museum at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and finally Santa's house in North Pole:

And yes, reindeers do shed their antlers in the winter, but it seems to be no big deal fro them. At night, I got a cab to visit the Ice Park. This started in late February, as volunteers and people who work on single block ice sculptures begin scraping the ice. 

People working on multi-block sculptures were still not done:

Visiting Alaska in March should definitely be the best time if you want to see both the northern lights and the ice park. This is something I'll never regret. Even though I would've loved to go with friends or family, it's not always possible, but it's better to travel alone than not traveling. 

If you like candies and chocolates, every time you travel you might find something new to try and/or something you have not seen in a long time, like Brach's Fruit Orchard Jelly Beans (in my opinion, the others are not good). Not all of these tasted good, though.