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Chena Hot Springs

The lot of us went to Chena Hot Springs, which is about an hour drive from Fairbanks. Walked around a bit, went in the water (there are hot tubs, pool, and the outdoor spring, which gets to 160°F (70°C), which is damn hot), and had lunch there. It's a nice place. They have various activities, including tours by horse, plane, and ATV (not all at once), an ice musuem, a green house, and more. They also are a big draw for Japanese tourists looking for something to do in the winter. And in the winter, the aurora borealis is supposed to be quite impressive (as you boil and freeze simultaneously).

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K). Click on the "huge" link to get the full size pictures (around 3M). Around 30 pictures included.

Arrival

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There's a nice arch-ish thing over the entrance to Chena Hot Springs. The first shot is looking at the entrance, the second and third are looking back along the road. It's a pretty drive.

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There's a little stream in the area. I don't think it's a hot spring but I didn't check.

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They have an "Ice House" there, with all sorts of ice things in it. I guess originally it was made of ice, but since it actually gets warm in the summer, it turns out not to be the greatest, long-lasting idea. We didn't go in, as there's an extra charge. Apparently you can get an ice martini in a souvenir ice glass that you can keep (until it melts). The clever part is that you'll have to keep on buying new ice glasses—it's not like you can run them through a dish washer. Marketing genius!

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Stephanie loves bugs (as well as all other animals and plants). She found a butterfly on the road.

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And then she put the butterfly in some flowers. I imagine it was happy for its sudden positive change in fortune.

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A few more shots of the stream in the area.

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Some hot spring action! The first and third pictures are of an outdoor pond that is geothermally heated. It had steam rising up from it, but it wasn't captured in the picture. But this is not the place where people swim. I decided not to take pictures of that one, since there were various people there, in bathing suits, bikinis, and the like (some fat, some thin), and it felt like it would be a bit rude and intrusive to take photos with them in it, without permission.

The second picture is a fairly tall stack of moose antlers. I found it intriguing.

The Trip Back

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Here's a panoramic picture of one of the ponds. Note that the 'bigger' and 'huge' links will show the same picture, since the stitched-together picture I generated was only at a medium resolution. Amazing what photoshop can do.

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Some other pictures along the road.

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Roger and Carrie had told us to keep an eye out for moose and other wildlife along some of the ponds we'd pass. At one point on the drive back, we noticed a car and van pulled off the road and a few people looking, with cameras, out at the water. I pulled off, got my camera and walked towards where they were. By the time I got there, the people had got back into their car and left. I looked and, while it is a very pretty area, saw nothing in terms of moose-age or other wildlife. But I decided I would still take some pictures because it was a pretty area. The first two pictures are of that pull-of, andthe second is looking back down the road heading towards Chena Hot Springs.

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