At Chief Paul Memorial School, teachers and students are given a 3 week winter break. I decided to plan an adventure for myself. At the start of my winter break, I flew to Fairbanks and did some exploring on my own. In Fairbanks, I experienced all kinds of weather. In the beginning it was beautiful and 30 degrees, then it started to snow A LOT, then went to below zero temps and then to round out my trip, it started snowing yet again. It was fun to experience it all.
Air Bnb
My air bnb was tucked away in nature and located next to Creamer's Field Wildlife Area. It was a very peaceful place to stay for a week. I took so many lovely pictures of the trees. I really miss trees because Kipnuk has none. The selfie of me was taken when I was outside for less than five minutes. This was taken on Christmas Eve when the weather turned bitterly cold. The weather on that day was at -40 degrees! I was dressed really well, so no frostbite for me!
Downtown Fairbanks
The first couple of days in Fairbanks I explored the downtown area and did some shopping. I came across the Fairbanks Girl Scout Council, which is the farthest north Girl Scout Council location in the US! It wasn't open, so I guess I will have to come back and visit again. I also saw this mural in downtown Fairbanks that I thought was beautiful.
Running Reindeer Ranch
The Running Reindeer Ranch was such a cool experience! I got to hike alongside reindeers and pet them as we walked. The Running Reindeer Ranch employees introduced each reindeer and explained how they got their name. My two favorite reindeers were Stellaluna and Margarita. Stellaluna was born on a full moon. Margarita was born on Cinco de Mayo. They were both very friendly and enjoyed being petted.
Museum of the North-University of Alaska Fairbanks
I headed to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to check out their museum and it did not disappoint. Since I am currently taking some online classes with the University of Alaska, I was able to get into the museum for free! The museum had an abundance of exhibits that depicted the many different cultures in Alaska.
Dog Sledding, Santa Claus House, & Chena Hot Springs
I am saving the best day for last in this blog post. December 21, also known as Winter Solstice, was my busiest day in Fairbanks. I travelled to the North Pole (yes, there's an actual town called North Pole in Alaska) to go dog sledding. This was a bucket list item for me. I sat in the sled and the musher took me on a 30 minute ride with her dogs. We stopped halfway, so I could play a little with the dogs and get a picture with them. It was also a good time to let them rest.
After the dog sledding, I headed over to Santa Claus House. This is the big tourist attraction in the North Pole. Santa is there every day throughout the year, so you can get a picture with him. Santa Claus House is a big gift shop and has a cafe inside of it too. Like I said earlier, on this day it was the Winter Solstice, so the sun didn't come up until 10:45am and then set at 2:30pm. It was a bit hard to adjust to the darkness in Fairbanks because Kipnuk has about 3 extra hours of daylight, at that time of year.
Last but not least, I went with a tour group to the Chena Hot Springs. Chena Hot Springs is about an hour and a half from Fairbanks. The first thing we did when we arrived there was go to the Ice Museum. This museum is made completely out of ice, which is so cool (literally and figuratively!)! I purchased a drink which was served in a glass made of ice. After I finished my drink, I ate my glass! After the ice museum, I went to the hot springs, which was the most relaxing thing I did on my trip. The hot springs were outside, so my hair eventually got all frosty! After the hot springs, we went looking for the Aurora Borealis. We were lucky that for about 30 minutes it was clear, so we could see the beautiful northern lights! It was very small display that night, but we were so happy to see them.
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