I know know, this blog is all about the fun stuff I do with my husband, but this one blog post is going to be about an adventure I had with the one person I have known the longest in my life- my sister!
The trip started with Angela texting one day asking if I wanted to see the Aurora Borealis....I thought sure why not. And then we booked a trip and here we are. As we were planning I remembered an old friend from my semester at American lives in Fairbanks so I reached out to him for suggestions. He offered some great ideas on places to go, things to do, and places to eat. Sadly we will not be able to see him and his wife, because they leave for vacation right after we got in town.
So the adventure for me started with a 7:50 text that my flight changed and a rerouting. I left Cleveland at 1:40 pm and met up with my sister in Seattle at around 7 pacific time for a quick dinner before we parted ways for our flights to Fairbanks (different airlines).
We arrived in Fairbanks at around a little after midnight Fairbanks time (4 hours difference for me that means I have been up almost 24 hours). Got the rental car, took a picture with a few bears and off to the VRBO.
The VRBO is perfect, we each have a room, it comfortable, clear and the host seems very nice. We tried to sleep in. Breakfast Tuesday was at the Crepery (friends suggestion). I loved it. I had a double espresso, and a brie, prosciutto, tomato crepe. My sister not so much. She had a bacon egg and cheese and the bacon was not done well enough for her so she was disappointed.
We then headed to Denali National Park. It was a beautiful 2 hour drive. Alaska is a gorgeous state.
We got there and were able to borrow snow shoes. We went on the trails (did the strenuous Rock Creek Trail). It took around 2.5 hours.
The scenery was fantastic, it was so quiet on the trail. It was a perfect day.
We tried to see the sled dogs, but they were not available.
For dinner on this first night we decided to try the Pump House. It is on the River, it was well recommended and they have game which I really wanted to try.
Angela had a pineapple sangria which was delicious, I did the Italian red wine flight. We started the meal with the garlic cheese curds. Delicious with a squeeze of lemon juice, BBQ sauce or marinara. For dinner Angela had the ribeye and filet beef tips in a red wine sauce and mashed potatoes, I had the Elk burger with gouda and we split a spinach salad. The meals were ok. I did not see anything special about an elk burger. It tasted very much like a regular burger. And my sister was disappointed in her meat- it was fatty ( I told her it would be it was rib eye pieces).
But spending time together was great and now we were headed out to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Auroras. We tried to go to the Ester Dome- but were not sure if we were in the correct place because it was sort of empty, deserted did not look like there was anywhere to park. So we ended up in a pullover on a street waiting and waiting.
Eventually a little after midnight we did see a few Aurora's. But we were exhausted and headed back to go to sleep. Tomorrow is another day.
Wednesday- today is a slow day. Nothing really planned. This is a good thing after yesterday and our over 14K steps and more lack of sleep. Today we booked Dog Sledding and a snowmobile ride for Friday before we leave. We just took the morning slow. We started with lunch at Aurora Mediterranean cafe. It was really good. I had a Butter Chicken Bowl over lettuce with Hummus, Baba, Tabbouleh, Chick Peas, garlic sauce and hot sauce. Angela had a Tabbouleh Bowl with similar ingredients. over rice. After that it was off to the Morris Thompson Visitor center. This was actually a really cool visitor center. There was a museum where we learned about the history of Alaska and watched a film about the history and culture behind the meaning of the Auroras for the Native people. We went out to the University of Alaska to see a Totem Pole and some other sculptured. And ended back in town at some local stores. Thankfully the fantastic woman at Lichen gave us some advice for the Auroras for tonight, also some great stores for tomorrow after the Hot Springs and reaffirmed my friends suggestion about the Ice Sculpting event at the fairgrounds. We did go back and take naps in preparation for Wednesday nights Auroras!
Thursday was the day I was waiting for....Chena Hot Springs. We started with a long beautiful drive up and then the hot springs, pool and massages We ended with a little lunch.
After we drove back and took shower and relaxed we headed out to ice carving sculpture fest. That was freaking amazing! The pictures all speak for themselves.
Friday- woke up for our last day in Alaska...today will be a long one because we do not leave until 1 am Saturday morning. We need to be out of our Air B & B and then we have dog sledding and snowmobiling. And no other real plan afterwards.
The dogs on the dogsled were Iditarod pups owned by the driver of the sled. It was such a cool experience to learn about the dogs and how they are bred and how they run the race. We learned so much about Alaskan culture. After the dogsled riding we went on snowmobiles.
While on the snowmobiles we got to see an eagle nest and a group out ice fishing also making their food that they caught out on the ice outside the ice house. IT was really coo to see people fishing and cooking right on the ice. In one area they let us just go out on our own and fly on the snowmobiles.
After we were done we took a trip to North Pole, Alaska. we stopped for lunch at a cute diner that had these cute saying on the wall and kitchey posters all over. I had a fried fish sandwich and seasoned chips
North Pole was really cute and it had a great Christmas store- my favorite holiday!!!!!!
After North Pole we had MANY MANY more hours before our flights so we went back to Fairbanks to see some other sites we might have missed and some neat touristy items in the downtown area.
Checked out a monument and the local Catholic Church, Immaculate Conception.
We then had our last meal in Fairbanks before heading to the airport to depart for our home cities.
It was an amazing trip with my sister. A trip I will not forget at a great part of the country I had never seen before. We both got to have new experiences and just spend some sister time together relaxing. Hopefully we will ahve some more great times in the future like this!
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