Chena Hot Springs & Northern Lights

From the Santa House, we left and drove another hour out to Chena Hot Springs. There's a small resort there, and we had a family suite booked for one night. We didn't get there till 1 p.m., but our room wasn't going to be ready until 3 p.m. So we passed the time at the indoor swimming pool! Kenny and I took turns going by ourselves into the hot springs outside. It was crazy cool! The hair on everyone's head would turn white and icy, but the water was so hot, so you stayed warm even though it was negative something degrees. It was clear and you could see the sand/rocks you were walking on. It was really neat, I just wish we could have gone in together! But you had to be 18 or over, so obviously one of us had to stay with the kids. I was still glad we got to experience it, though.

 

 

This is one reason I don't like vacationing in the winter in Alaska. This is how we had to dress in order to step outside the door. So even though the walk over to the restaurant for dinner was less than 5 minutes, it takes a LOT of preparation, and then dealing with coats/hats/gloves/scarves once you do get indoors.

We pushed the two small beds together and turned them so these 3 could sleep together.

One of the hot springs. The one we got to go in was actually behind those rocks where those people are standing. This is just the view from our room. I wish we would've (or could've) had our camera out earlier when we went.

 Later that night after we put the kids to bed, we saw the Northern Lights!! It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen and I hope to never forget it. It was probably 10x as cool as the one time we saw them here in Anchorage. They just covered the whole, big sky and it was so breathtaking. Kenny was able to take a few pictures of them. Taking pictures of them was actually a lot harder than it sounds. They don't like cameras. Tyler hadn't fallen asleep yet, so we grabbed him out of bed and brought him outside with us to look at them. He described them as green glow worms in the sky!

Can you see me?

I know it's very blurry, but I'm in this one, too.

We had a good time there, but it really wasn't as family-friendly as we were hoping. I doubt we'll go back (at least with kids), but I'm still glad we went. We left the next morning to get back on the road and use what little daylight Alaska has to offer right now. We were grateful to make it back home safely to our warm, cozy home. We definitely had our fair share of bumps along the way, but overall it was a great family vacation and we made some good memories :).