Alaska was originally owned by Russia in the late 1800s as a fur trading colony. When the fur-trading dried up, Russia was saddled with a liability rather than an asset. Looking to dispose of this territory, Russia reached out to the US a fledgling country to acquire the land. At the time, Canada was not its own country and the territory was owned by Great Britain. Russia and Great Britain were at odds with one and other and there was no chance they would allow their greatest rival to gain more land. After acquiring Alaska, it sat dormant for quite a while until finally in 1959 it became a state.
With Russia not being a viable option to travel right now— Alaska seemed like a good substitute than crossing the Pacific and seeing what mysteries this relatively unknown and extremely under-developed state had to offer. The trip just so happened to coordinate with Erica’s 50th birthday and so she and her daughter tagged along for our adventure.
On our rocky way out of San Diego, we had a quick layover in Sea-Tac. Not one to miss an opportunity to take advantage of a layover we left the airport and found ourselves at Cedarbrook Lodge for a yummy bite to eat at their dine-in restaurant. The food took forever, but as soon as it was here— it was gone. We ubered back to the airport and boarded our next flight to Fairbanks, Alaska.
The flight was smooth and uneventful. We proceeded to get our rental car and then drove to our hotel— Pike’s Waterfront Lodge. The hotel was charming and quaint. It had a solid breakfast, ice cream social, movie theater, and library. After checking in and dropping our bags off, we proceeded to walk around the grounds before turning in for the night.
On Saturday morning, I got up early and went to get a cake to celebrate Erica’s birthday. I made a pit stop at Sunrise Bagel & Expresso. These single-room, double drive-thru window shops were everywhere. I read somewhere that there is 1 coffee shop for every 10 people in Fairbanks. Not sure how true that number is, but there were quite a few of them. Everyone was up and ready to go by the time I returned so we started our journey for the day.
Our first stop was the North Pole, Alaska. This random little city was decked out in all things Christmas. From Santa Clause Retirement community, to Snowman Way, to the giant Santa that could be seen from the highway— if you love Christmas this is the city for you. We stopped to look at the main store and also had a surprise finding of reindeer to snap a photo or two with. The highlight was of course visiting Santa. After we told him that it was Erica’s birthday — he stopped everything and had everyone sing Happy Birthday to her.
The next stop was to a glacier/ ice cave. The problem was that I miscalculated how far away it was. The GPS said that it wasn’t as far as it was, but it was way further than I thought. So we wasted time driving to the glacier only to turn around and head to the Chena Hot Springs. Nothing in Alaska is close so this miscalculation caused us to be late for our dog mushing tour. They were not able to accommodate us that day, but we were able to reschedule it for later so Erica and Ashley could experience it.
The good news was that even though we missed our first experience, we were able to make the other two that were scheduled in this area. The first was to experience Chena’s hot spring itself. Even though there was snow on the ground outside, this hot spring was warm and downright hot in certain parts. After heating up and cooling off, we got dressed and ready to experience the world’s largest year-round ice environment— the Aurora Ice Museum. After a brief tour of the museum, we were allowed to explore on our own and even get a drink out of an ice cup. After being done, you were to throw it on the ground and make a wish. I wished for world peace. :)
When we left we had reservations for a restaurant. Unfortunately, due to the weather, construction, and just overall distance we were unable to make those reservations either. However, we did find a substitute, Lavell’s Bistro, that was not Pizza Hut (as Grant wanted) and had a nice meal. We went back to the hotel following dinner and crashed. Driving in this “white-knuckle” weather is exhausting.
The next morning I debating going to Denali, but at 6:45 am being wide-awake— I decide to go. I texted the group to let them know where I was going and if they wanted to come. Erica was also up and joined me on the trip. The weather had cleared up and the ice on the road had mostly melted. We then commenced our 2-hour drive. Along the way, we saw trees, moose, and that was about it. It was beautiful and untouched. Thankfully I filled up for gas because there was absolutely nothing along the trek from Fairbanks to Denali. When we were 10 miles out from Denali, we began to see signs of life. Although, it was all boarded up for the Winter season.
Eventually, we got to the park and stopped for a photo outside of the entrance. We were able to drive some of it and see the vast beauty of Denali. We are not sure, which peak was technically Denali, but we saw it for sure. We got to drive about the clouds and see some great views of the entire mountain range as well as the surrounding area. With it being off-season there was hardly anyone there. Although, I am not sure even in the high season how many people are actually there.
We trekked a little bit and drank water from a running stream before doing an about-face and going back to Grant and Ashley. Those two had a spa day at the hotel and took advantage of our room being right next to the steam room and sauna. Grant would overheat and then go next door to our room and layout on the balcony to cool off in the snow. As we made our way back we stopped at a grocery store/gas station and got Erica some food to hold her off. The drive back was downhill it seemed and went faster than the drive out.
Erica and I picked up Grant and Ashley and we made our way to the Museum of the North. We looked at the gift shop and what was there and decided not to go in. Instead, we went to downtown Fairbanks and ate at the only restaurant that was really open— a crepe place that Erica treated us to. Afterward, we went to Fairbanks High School were in the auditorium for a showing of Jane Lynch and Kate Flannery’s Two Lost Souls. It was somewhat funny…a bit boring in the middle…but the end picked up and left us smiling. Afterward, we went to eat pizza and had champagne at the hotel.
Our flight was at 6 am so we called it an early night. The next morning we got our stuff and left for the airport. I goofed and left my driver's license at TSA. I called lost and found it at the airport when I got back to San Diego and they are mailing it back to me. It was probably because I was so distracted. After all, Jane Lynch was in our presence. Haha. She was everywhere and we could not shake her. After a quick layover in Seattle, we were home in San Diego in no time.
The main reason I wanted to go to Fairbanks was to see the aurora borealis. We were unsuccessful. This just means that we have to go somewhere else like Iceland to see it. I think I know where we are going next!
