Denali National Park - Chena Hot Springs - Ice Museum

DENALI  NATIONAL  PARK  AND  RESERVE

Mt. McKinley the highest mountain in North America (20,320 feet)
This is what we came to the park to see today!!!

 Mt. McKinley was named by a gold prospector for William McKinley, when he was running for president, because McKinley was in support of  keeping the United States on the gold standard.  The Alaskans have begun calling it Denali so in 1975 they tried to get the name officially changed but when it came up for a vote by U.S. congressmen the Ohio delegation lobbied to keep it Mt. McKinley, as President McKinley was from Ohio.  It is still referred to as Mount Denali though by many locals.  (Denali National Park is about a 2-hour drive from Fairbanks.)

Since the weather conditions were like this

seeing the mountain was out of the question.

but we saw lots of wildlife, including this BEAR.

Denali National Park and Reserve encompases six million acres of virtually undisturbed geography.  The most commonly seen wildlife in the park are moose, caribou, wolves, arctic squirrels, bear, Dall sheep, lynx and Willow Ptarmigan (the state bird of Alaska).  Arctic squirrels are the only mammals that hibernate with a body temperature below 32 degrees.  While on this ten-hour bus ride through the park - hoping to see Mt. McKinley at some point remember - we saw all but a wolf and a lynx.

We're riding 10 hours on this bus.  YIKES!  Lots of TB. 

The beautiful Nenana River that is the eastern boundary for the Park.

Chena Hot Springs

This is one of the out buildings at the hot springs - the sign says Massage Therapy.
Aren't those flower baskets the biggest and most beautiful you've ever seen?
Also notice the thatched roof!

In addition to these facilities the hot springs (which is about one hour from Fairbanks) has a hotel, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a large hall which people use for special occasions, a huge green house in which all the flower baskets around the grounds are nurtured and grown plus most of the vegetables served in the restaurant, a playground area for children, a barbeque area with a barbeque built into a replica of a dragon,

 and the "world's largest year round ice museum."

Igloo inside museum - you can walk inside and experience the excellent acoustics.
They have provided a xylophone for that purpose.
Also, you can see they provide heavy coats as the temperature is kept at 25 degrees at all times.

Sonnary (in her bare legs and flip flops)
in the room with a fireplace (no heat), tables, stools, lamps, etc.
The stools are covered with caribou hide so they don't feel cold when you sit on them.

This is a bed - with a bear head, four posters, and covered with caribou hide.

This ice museum currently has three bedrooms (one with bunkbeds) and is constructing one more.  People actually ask to sleep in these rooms overnight.  (Remember everything is made of ice - including the waste baskets.)  They have rooms at the hotel, just in case, but mainly because there are no bathroom facilities inside the museum.

There is also a bar and a chapel in the ice museum.  At the bar you can be served an appletini in a glass that is made of ice and in the chapel couples actually get married.  Word is that the length of the ceremony is in direct proportion to the amount of skin covered by the bride's dress.

There is another ice museum in downtown Fairbanks, in which these pictures were taken.

Dog Sled Team

Koen and Mason as Ice Eskimoes

The highlight of this museum was the film they show about how the ice used in these ice carvings is removed from the lake in huge chunks (5' x '8' x 3').  One of the most prominent ice sculpting competitions is held in Fairbanks in March of each year.  For the single block category they work in teams of two and are given 60 hours to complete their entry.  For multi-block they work in teams of four and are given 10 blocks of ice and 132 hours to complete their entry.  The results can be spectacular.