Monday – We left around 8:30 AM to head for our adventures today because we had an 11:00 slot for our first outing – The Chena Ice Museum. This was located on the Chena resort out in the middle of nowhere. We drove almost 2 hours to get there. It had started snowing which made the roads a little slick so we drove a little slower to be safe. Whenever a car passed us going the other way it kicked up a huge cloud of snow. Think dirt road vibes. Kinda like driving into fog. We had been told that we might see moose along this highway, but you guessed it – we didn’t. Although when we got back to the lodge I heard a lady say that they had seen a mama moose with 2 babies. Figures!
The road to nowhere… I mean to Chena Resort.
Sadly the actual ice museum was kinda underwhelming. I think everything on the brochure was actually everything in the museum. You had an option of buying a $20 appletini to drink in a glass carved from ice. Although this could have been a fun photo op, we decided we didn’t need an appletini at 11:00 AM. We weren’t sure how cold it would be in there so we all wore our warm stuff. They also provided big warm parkas if you needed them. The Ice Museum was kind of like going into a big Iglue Freezer. It might have lost a little of the coolness factor because it was 0 degrees outside anyway so we were basically going from freezing outside to freezing inside. It might have felt like a bigger deal if we had gone in the summer and walked from warmth into the freezer. Who knows. Anywhoo … We walked in and there were a few sculptures on one side and an ice bar area on the other. The main attractions seemed to be flowers encased in ice blocks. These were neat but I had kind of expected more sculptures or ice furniture or something. We may have appreciated this more if we had not seen the amazing ice sculptures at the Fairbanks World Competition yesterday. And by “we” I mean “me”. No one else was complaining.
We left the 45 minute Ice Museum Tour after about 20 minutes and headed over for lunch in the lodge.
The menu was full of lots of interesting info about how they grow veggies there year round in greenhouses using the hot springs to heat it.
After lunch at the resort it was time for the grand finale. The hot springs. I had envisioned us having to plod through snow in our boots, coat and swimsuit to get to the springs and jump in. Thankfully it was a well-oiled machine. We went into a building where we were instructed to take off our boots and put on flip flops, which luckily Jennifer had thought ahead to remind us to bring. From there we rented towels and went back to the heated locker rooms to change. They had a covered walkway back to the springs which was surprisingly warm in only our swimsuits considering it was 12 degrees out. You stepped out from the covered walkway directly into the hot water. Not bad at all. It was wild to be in our swimsuits with snow all around us. Bruce checked the water temp on his watch and it was 102 degrees. Somehow it felt great and even kept our heads warm out of the water. I was told that my hair would freeze from the freezing mist but it didn’t. It was just the right amount of crowded. We talked to a lot of interesting people including some newlyweds and a cousins reunion.
Of course you know Bruce was not content to just hang out in the hot springs like everyone else. He had to get out and sit on a snow covered rock and then swim the butterfly through the misty hot spring pool (which thoroughly impressed some of the cousins). When we were getting out Bruce noticed that the minerals in the pool had completely tarnished his silver ring.
We were a little nervous about the drive home because it had been lightly snowing the whole time so we wanted to be sure to leave in time to get home before dark. Plus we had realized upon our arrival that there were no gas stations near here. The locker rooms had showers with shampoo, soap and blow dryers. We headed home around 3:00 and had no trouble.
My inner introvert was kicking in so I was glad to have some time to chill in our room and order pizza to eat in the lobby. After dinner we noticed that they had some games including Rummikub, which is my favorite. We taught the Lettes to play and now my trip was complete. Even though Chris won both games. I think it was beginners luck. Sadly I didn’t take any pictures of our delicious pizza, the RumiKub game, Chris gloating, or the Australians. I guess you’ll just have to use you imagination.
While hanging out in the lobby we met some people from Australia. They were on quite an epic vacation. They had flown to California and spent some time in LA and Disneyland. Then flown to New York for a week. Then off to Florida and a cruise to the Bahamas. Back to California and now here in Alaska for a week. And one of the highlights of their trip? Wait for it … seeing all the squirrels in Central Park in NYC. Apparently, they do not have squirrels in Australia. Who knew? I always love talking to people from other places to hear their point of view on things we take for granted and things that they do. It was a fun way to end our adventure.
