Visiting Chena Hot Springs

Chena Hot Springs Report is 60 miles north of Fairbanks.  We went there last week and stayed two nights at their campground.  Here is the website for the resort: http://www.chenahotsprings.com/

There is a hot spring which provides water for a large swimming pool, several hot tubs, and a large outdoor rock-lined pool. The water temperature is between 104-110 degrees. My hot-tubbing mother would love it here. It is open year-round.
　

　
Here is a picture of the outdoor pool. People from Fairbanks told us that they come out here in the winter when it is 20-40 degrees below zero. The water is still the same hot temperature, and they told us that getting from the locker rooms to the pool is quite an ordeal, as you can imagine. They said that if you get your hair wet and put your head out of the water, your hair immediately freezes. One woman told us that people like to create "ice sculptures" with their hair. You can spike it up or do a Mohawk and it will hold that shape with little ice crystals on the ends. She said it looks like you are a punk rocker with streaked hair. Life is different up here!!

In the summer, most of the clients are American tourists, but in the winter 80% of their guests are Japanese. All the signs at the resort are in English and Japanese. We asked why so many Japanese come here since this is WAY out in the middle of nowhere. There seem to be several reasons. One is because there is a Japanese marketing manager who has worked at the resort for 10 years, and he arranges charter tours. Another reason, according to the Japanese desk clerks we talked to is because Japanese love hot springs and they want to watch the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. They are only visible in northern latitudes (above ) and Japan is not that far north. They are at about the same latitude as Georgia. The final reason might or might not be true. One tour guide (a young Caucasian man) told us that he heard that some Japanese believe that being conceived under the Northern Lights is an auspicious start for a baby and that the baby will gain much wealth in life.   So . . . maybe there are lots of pregnancies after these tours!! Who knows??

　

The resort has made good use of antique, rusting cars and farm equipment and have them placed around the grounds as outdoor sculptures, often as planters for their gorgeous flowers which they start in their greenhouses when it is still freezing outside. Alaska seems to have a problem with old rusting equipment which you see all over. We asked someone in a small town on the coast why there seems to be so many old cars, parts, etc. He said that their town (Petersburg) has to ship their large trash by barge to Washington State and it is very expensive so everyone tends to just leave stuff sitting in their yard.    

This "Antler Sculpture" is probably a season's worth of Moose Sheds which they found on the property. The Greenhouse Manager told me that he has seen up to 6 moose together at the Beaver Pond on the property.