Chena Hot Springs

Five times daily the Chena Hot Springs Resort offers guided tours of its Aurora Ice Museum, where sculptures made of crystal clear ice have been carved into jousting knights, samurai swordsmen, life size chess pieces, and bears. Embedded inside them are colored lights which slowly change colors. Step up to the Aurora Ice Bar, sit on the felt covered ice stool, and order your souvenir "appletini" cocktail, poured into a frozen ice martini glass. Here the temperature is a cool 20°F and offers sanctuary from the minus -16 below zero wind chill outside. Weddings are held here, and so are ice carving workshops. Built in 2004, this cathedral of ice blocks is open year round.

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So what if the temperature is sixteen degrees below zero? Who really cares as the wind chills the air even more? Just put on your swimwear and glide into the outdoor 109°F thermal pool, and let the soothing mineral waters keep you feeling warm. You're at the 440-acre Chena Hot Springs Resort, about 70 miles outside of Fairbanks, inside Alaska's interior. During winter season guests can speed thru the forest on dog sled rides, take in guided snowmobile touring, and take a late night, bumpy snow-coach ride up a ridge to see the Northern Lights. Summer season offers horseback rides, bicycle rentals, all-terrain-vehicle tours, and rafting trips. All year long you can sip a cocktail in the ice bar inside the Aurora Ice Museum, and get a souvenir martini glass made of crystal clear ice.

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Your frozen fingers are too stiff to adjust your camera settings. The -19 degree temperature hurts your ice-cold nose, even with a woolly scarf wrapped around your face. You stomp your boots in the icy snow to try and keep them feeling warm. Suddenly, what you've been waiting for, begins to appear, waking your drowsy eyes. The Aurora Borealis shimmer overhead in the night sky, slowly waving like large ribbons blowing in the wind. In one part they're brightly lit, only to slowly fade away and become intensely bright in another band of lime green color. Though they seem close, this natural light show actually occurs sixty miles overhead, caused by the sun's coronal mass ejections, as they wrap around Earth's polar regions. Alaska's interior is a prime spot to enjoy this gift of our solar system.

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