Hello and welcome back to Nomad Dad Life! Our last post was about some of our favorite places in Anchorage and our dog sled adventure at Alaskan Husky Adventures. If you haven’t read that post, please do so here. Today we are going to head into the interior of Alaska for a two day trip to Fairbanks. For a 360 mile drive it was really easy. There is one road leading to Fairbanks from Anchorage as is the case with most places in Alaska. There are not many roads so if there is an accident or something blocking the road, you will be waiting for a long time.
Of course, most Alaskans are always prepared for the worst while they are traveling. Not only are you traveling in one of the most remote areas in the United States, but in addition to that, you aren’t going to have much for cell phone services for a majority of the state.
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks was our second trip after we got to Alaska. We planned to go there but didn’t have any itinerary in mind. With all the driving we had done getting up there, we decided to make the drive during the night. We waited until the kids were ready for bed, and loaded them into the car to head even further north. The night was perfect for driving–full moon, not a cloud in the sky, and the northern lights were dancing around the sky. The lights weren’t as bright as other nights because of the full moon. However, the full moon illuminated the snowy mountains and valleys and we saw some amazing sights.
Turns out the World Ice Sculpting Championship was going on while we were in Fairbanks! They had way more than just ice sculptures going on at the fairgrounds, though. When we entered, there was a game area that had bean bags boards made of ice, ping pong table made of ice, mini golf on the ice, connect four and checkers all made of ice, and an igloo warming house right next to the area. Luckily for us the weather was warm, so we only went in the igloo to check it out and say that we have been in one!
World Ice Sculpting Championship
Close by were a stage and a couple thrones carved out of the ice. They had sledding hills, and some were more like a luge course than sledding hills! Most were kid friendly so our kids had a lot of fun sledding. The ice sculptures themselves were unbelievable. It is truly remarkable what people can create out of a block of ice. They had different divisions–one block of ice, two, and multiple. They had trails cut through the woods to keep the sculptures out of the sun as best they could to persevere them as long as possible. It was really an amazing experience, and this is the opinion of someone who grew up in central Minnesota surrounded by ice!
After a day playing on the ice, we went back to the hotel, did a little swimming, and then went out to view the northern lights again. They did not disappoint! The northern lights are a nightly occurrence during the winter months so there is some tourist activity in Fairbanks, but we went during the middle of the week when the crowds were smaller. Again, with it being Alaska, there aren’t much for roads so it was nice not having to deal with a lot of traffic trying to get to the best places to see the lights.
North Pole, Alaska
Right next to Fairbanks is North Pole, Alaska. Of course, we had to stop there since we were close. Main Street’s light poles are painted as candy canes, all the streets have a Christmas theme, and Santa’s workshop is there open year round! Santa’s workshop was a big hit with our kids. They wanted everything there! The North Pole doesn’t just go all out around Christmas; it is Christmas all year! It was a really unique experience and one that I’m glad we were able to provide for our children. The way their faces lit up seeing Santa’s workshop, it would have been worth going to Alaska just for that!
With going to a new place comes trying some new food and beer. We checked out Food Factory while we were in Fairbanks, and it did not disappoint. They had a large menu with a lot of different options, so it was easy to find something for everyone. Conveniently, on the way to Food Factory was Latitude 65 Brewing. We got a growler of their Hazy Bou IPA, which was recommended by the beertender and we were on our way.
We just made a quick trip so the next day we were already heading back to Anchorage. Once we checked out of the hotel, we decided to visit the Children’s Museum and let the kids burn off some energy before the drive back. The tree climbing canopy and the big water table were our children’s favorites. After a couple of hours of playing it was time to make the trip back. Since we were driving during the day we decided to make a stop at Denali National Park.
Denali National Park
Denali is the highest peak in North America, but the park is so much more than just the mountain. Denali is one of eight national parks that Alaska has to offer. It is open year round; however a lot of the park is inaccessible during the winter months due to road conditions. There are lots of trails for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, fat tire biking, or dog sledding.
The park is over 6 million acres, which is larger than the state of New Hampshire, and features forests, tundra, mountains and glaciers. Denali is huge; on a clear day you can see it from Anchorage 240 miles away. Denali is so massive that it generates it’s own weather; much like a boulder in a river creates rapids. All mountains deflect air masses and influence local conditions, but Denali raises so abruptly and so high that this effect is more dramatic here than perhaps anywhere else on earth. We could see Denali most of our drive, which is really deceiving. You think it’s just going to be around the next couple of curves, but it is way more than a couple of curves before you get there!
The park is beautiful, hardly touched by humans. Just nature the way it was meant to be. There is no shortage of wildlife or views in the park. Wildlife includes grizzly and black bears, wolves, wolverines, coyotes, moose, caribou, dall sheep, snowshoe hare, and many others. We did a little hiking on the trails, but mostly used it as a way to stretch our legs and get the kids out of the car on our trip back to Anchorage.
Up Next
We were hoping to go back in the summer, and in a way we kind of did, but that will be for a different post. I wanted to go back to Fairbanks to get a midnight tee time at the golf course because the sun doesn’t set for 70 days. We had too much else going on in the summer to make that happen, but I would still like to one day just to say I’ve done it!
That will end this post. Our next post will continue our day trips in Alaska before we hopped on a plane and took an actual vacation with our kids. If you haven’t already please follow our journey on social media by clicking a link below.
Links
Ice Sculpting Championship: https://icealaska.com/
North Pole: https://www.northpolealaska.com/
Santa’s Workshop: https://www.santaclaushouse.com/visit.asp
Fairbanks Children’s Museum: https://www.fairbankschildrensmuseum.com/
Latitude 65 Brewing: https://www.lat65brewing.com/
BJ Rylander
October 28, 2023 — 12:11 am
I love “traveling with you” via your blog! Thanks for letting me tag along!!!!