I don't get outside much in the winter.
I know this is a pathetic statement for a self-proclaimed "outdoorsy" person to make, but it's true. I spend 98% of my time inside. It's the sad fact of my life between November and March every year. I could blame it on being too busy...but that's only part of it. The truth is that I can't stand the cold. Now this is where you huff and "psh" and guffaw at me because you say, "You're an Alaskan! You should be able to walk through a blizzard in bermuda shorts. You're not supposed to get cold!" I've heard it before, but go ahead....
Now that I've got that admission over with, I'll get to my point. With all that time spent indoors, it can make a person a little nuts. We Alaskans call this stir-crazy affliction "cabin fever." It's what happens when you're cooped up for so long in your house that you start to have wild thoughts and do wilder things. On New Year's Eve this year we sent my 10 year-old son and his two girl cousins (who were visiting from California) outside in their bathing suits. The idea was to make them run a lap around our house in the -10 degree darkness....for fun. We adults, who stayed on the toasty inside of the house thought this was a brilliant way for them to "get the stink blowed off." The three of them stood prancing in anticipation in the entryway as we opened the front door. It was like opening one of those decontamination air-locks that makes a sucking sound and billows white fog all over the place. The moisture inside the house instantly froze where it met the frigid air outside, creating a white cloud of condensation through which the children bolted out into the night. They shrieked. We laughed. They ran so fast that it was all over in less than a minute.
They arrived safely, and warmly, back inside the house completely unscathed and wildly exhilarated. They soon perched themselves by the wood stove to drink hot cocoa and relive their mini-adventure. It was cheap entertainment. A winter thrill. And a great story to take back to California.
If this sounds interesting and you have a few dollars to spare, you could try taking a trip to Chena Hot Springs. That's what we did. In fact, we drove 800 miles round trip on icy roads and spent hundreds of dollars to do basically the same thing as run around our house in a bathing suit. Talk about crazy thoughts! In retrospect, it was definitely a memorable trip and worth doing once in a lifetime. Our mission was to show our Californian relatives what Alaska had to offer. In winter, that pretty much consists of snow, wind, and bitter coldness. But at Chena Hot Springs you can experience these things while soaking outdoors in a steaming, sulfurous lake! Who can say they've done that?
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| Somewhere between home and Fairbanks. Brrrr. |
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| Somebody else had a wild idea, too. |
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| The sun setting at 2pm. |
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| The outdoor lake at Chena Hot Springs. |
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| Photo taken from www.chenahotsprings.com/history. |
Chena Hot Springs is located 60 miles east of Fairbanks, Alaska, which is one of the coldest places in the state. And it feels really cold when you walk barefoot outside wearing just a little bit of spandex. But that's all part of the experience. Behind the experience of soaking in the outdoor pool is the wonder of the hot springs itself. It was discovered in 1905 by two gold-mining brothers, Robert & Thomas Swan, who had been told by a U.S. Geological Surveyor about steam rising out of a valley on the upper Chena River. Robert Swan suffered from rheumatism and hoped the steam meant there was a hot spring that might help to ease his discomfort. It took the brothers the whole month of June to travel from Fairbanks to the source of the hot springs at Monument Creek. By 1911 the hot springs had a bath house and 12 cabins and was a popular destination. A miniature display in the activities building shows how the entire resort benefits from the hydro-thermal action. Surface water is heated by magma leaking into the earth's mantle and is piped into a mechanical building where it branches out to the rest of the resort. The hot springs not only provide a venue for turning tourists pruney, they also heat the buildings, the greenhouses, the indoor pools and the hot tubs. Much of the food (at least in summer) is grown on site with help from a natural spring that is gravity fed to the gardens. I can attest to the Chena potatoes being delicious, even in December! This place is a case study in using sustainable resources.
We arrived in Fairbanks at 2 in the afternoon, just as the sun was setting. We were only a few days past the shortest day of the year and the temperature hovered around 16 below zero. We found Chena Hot Springs Resort surprising full for the day after Christmas, but we were undeterred. We all donned swimsuits and headed out the door. Unfortunately, no rooms are attached to the building where you access the hot springs. This meant we all had to put on layers to make the cold trek from our building to the pool building 200 hundred yards away. While this wasn't a problem at first, the return trip with wet hair and undergarments was more interesting. My nieces' long blonde hair froze into icy twigs that clattered against each other like dried hay as they ran for the hotel room.
But, don't let my complaining about the cold dissuade you from thinking we had a good time, because we did! Once up to my shoulders in the searing heat of the outdoor lake, all was grand. It was a magical atmosphere. Snow blanketed the surrounding boulders and reflected the green and red spot lights positioned around the perimeter. Steam rose off the surface of the water and froze on my hair, aging my appearance by about 50 years. Here and there, dark silhouettes bobbed quietly in the red glow. The official rule is that no one under 18 years of age is allowed in the outdoor lake, so kids must be contented to play in the indoor pool. For the record, I'm all about following the rules, most of the time. So, I want to put a shout of thanks out to that lovely manager who allowed our kids 5 minutes to experience the lake with us in the wee early morning hours. It was a memory not soon to be forgotten.
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| It's not a wig, it's frost. |
As for this wimpy winter girl, I thoroughly enjoyed this outdoor excursion (though most of it was spent inside a car or a hotel room). We topped off the trip with a visit to Santa Claus in
North Pole and a fabulous dinner at the
Silver Gulch Restaurant (I recommend a pint of the "Dark Lady"). Sometimes wild ideas really stir up something worth doing.
