Chena Hot Springs

This was a full day.  After our hike to Angel Rocks (see our prior blog entry), we drove a little further northeast on the Chena Hot Springs Road to the road's ultimate objective - Chena Hot Springs:

Chena Hot Springs is a hot spring and resort located a little over 50 miles northeast of Fairbanks near the Chena River State Recreation Area. The resort is most well known for its hot spring, which is why we visited; but it also makes use of the first low-temperature binary geothermal power plant built in Alaska, and is working on several alternative energy projects, including production and use of hydrogen and vegetable oil for fuel. The resort is conducting collaborative experiments in greenhouse production of vegetables with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

Chena Hot Springs was founded over 100 years ago by two gold mining brothers, Robert and Thomas Swan. In 1905, Robert Swan was suffering from rheumatism and needed a place to calm his pain and be comfortable. The two brothers heard from an earlier geological survey team that there was steam rising from a valley north of Fairbanks which they judged evidence of a hot spring.  The two brothers set out to find the hot springs. It took them a little over a month to reach the hot springs after searching for it in Interior Alaska’s harsh landscape. In 1911, a later owner of the property built twelve small cabins to accommodate visitors. Over time, the Chena Hot Springs became one of the most famous resorts in the interior of Alaska.

We pulled in and parked Great White near the Aurora Ice Museum, which is part of the property:

The purpose of the Ice Museum is to boost the tourism of the resort and showcase the artwork of resident ice artists Steve and Heather Brice. The museum is open throughout the entire year, including the summer,. The present museum is made of a steel framework with hollow walls and consists of a great hall and a vestibule. Some of the ice sculptures include a gigantic ice tower and life-size jousting knights. Visitors touring the museum are offered the opportunity to purchase a vodka "appletini" in a hand carved ice glass.

Joining the tour, we were surprised to see our new friends Steve and Linda!  Of course we had to take a group selfie in the vestibule as we donned our resort-provided parkas for the ice tour:

Steve and Linda are authors of a great blog on their trip to Alaska, titled, "The Chouters & Scoopy." During our planning of our trip, and in fact all along the road until here in Fairbanks, we had followed their adventures.  We finally got a chance to meet them and have a lengthy visit the other evening.  Their blog is full of wit and wisdom, and we've taken a few hints from them about how to get the most out of this trip North.  So we were most pleasantly surprised to bump into them again before our respective routes take us different ways.

As we entered the great hall of the museum, we could see various rooms arrayed from the front to the back:

The museum contains a number of very striking ice sculptures, which are chameleon-like and change how they look depending on whether you use your naked eye, a camera without flash, or a flash camera.  This leopard didn't show his spots (or his checkerboard floor) until we took this photo of him:

The museum is a working ice art studio, and one large room is filled with tools of the ice sculptor's trade:

Our guide explained that the museum was originally designed to house a few "ice hotel" rooms that would be furnished for overnight stays by guest, who would eat, drink, sleep and "other things" in an ice room supplied with ice furniture.  Unfortunately, local building and other codes have made it difficult to operate the museum as a hotel, so the rooms are simply part of the display.  However, we were permitted to climb up on an ice bed with a headboard carved in the shape of a polar bear.  Here's our polar bear bed selfie:

Kathy took the resort up on its offer of an apple martini in a real ice martini glass, so we plunked ourselves down at the "Aurora Ice Bar" --

-- whereupon the bartender (our guide) poured Kathy's drink with a double flourish:

"Cheers!"  Actually, that's not a smile, but a grimace:  Kathy said her hands got so cold from holding the ice glass that she was worried she would drop it:

One of our favorite displays in the museum was a xylophone made entirely of ice.  The individual bars are designed to ring with a chime in a key of the major octave, so you can play your favorite tunes on the instrument.  People sitting at the bar in the outer section of the museum could enjoy the music, too!

Here's David trying his hand at an icy "Fur Elise":

Not to be left in the audience, Kathy took her own turn tripping the ice fantastic on the xylophone keys.  Here's a video of Kathy playing the ice xylophone.

The Aurora Ice Museum was actually a side trip within the Chena Hot Springs.  Our main goal had been to soak in its natural, geothermally heated waters, which bubble up into a pea-gravel-bottomed pond ringed in granite boulders.  After a day's hike, this was soothing indeed!

The hot spring comes complete with water fountains that spray lukewarm water on you while you soak yourself below in 102F water:

Kathy tried both the water jet above and the more placid "rain shower" type fountain below.

David took his turn as well, and once we had soaked until our skin wrinkled, we dressed, drove back to Fairbanks, and finished with a tasty meal and beers at Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling Co.  After all this relaxing after a long hike, we got home, plopped ourselves in our easy chairs and fought sleep until we were vanquished.