clevelandbrown

February 2006 visit to Fairbanks.

We left Cleveland in the afternoon of February 1, taking the train to the airport, then shedding our coats and winter gear and putting them in a spare suitcase and checking it. I don't like wearing winter clothing on a plane, especially when the airline's route is from Cleveland to Houston to Seattle to Fairbanks. The flight into Houston had weather troubles, but they held the connecting flight as we raced through the terminal.

Due to the distance and time zones, we arrived at Fairbanks a half hour late, at 0200 Thursday morning. Guess which piece of luggage they had misrouted. 40 degrees below zero and we were without hats, coats, and gloves. Fortunately, the hotel picked us up in a warm van and we made it safely to the Hotel. We spent all Thursday indoors, trying to figure out where to buy new winter gear. Alaska Air insured us they would find our missing bag and have it to us within 24 hours, and when we awakened Friday morning, the missing bag was there.

We stayed at the Sophie Station Hotel, which has suites at a very reasonable price, and a decent restaurant. It was very clean and the people there were very helpful and friendly, as has been my experience everywhere we have gone in Alaska. We went primarily to see the aurora borealis, so each night we were trying to stay up late hoping for good weather. Unfortunately, the six days we were there had relative inactivity, and the weather never cooperated. A couple of nights we saw almost clear skies from our south facing balcony, but when I walked down to the north facing windows that part of the sky was not clear. I think its hard to predict when to see them; there is a forecast site, but they seem to only have predictions two weeks out, and to get inexpensive airline tickets I have to buy well outside of that window, and of course the weather is always a question. I had made reservations to go to a viewing cabin, but the man who runs it said he would call with current conditions before leaving to pick us up, and when he called the conditions were not good, so we didn't go. Its nice dealing with someone who is so forthright about his business.

We did visit the Museum at the University, and it was very interesting, although in something of a transition as they are about to open a new gallery. The view across the town from outside the museum to the mountains was spectacular, even given somewhat hazy conditions and the harsh cold that kept driving us back inside. We didn't spend as much time as I planned at the museum as the cafe was closed for the season, and we got hungry and had to leave to get food. I think one could easily spend a whole day in that museum.

At breakfast one day at the hotel, a man pointed out that there was a moose outside. A mother and what I would equate to a teenager were walking through the parking lot and into the woods. I hadn't expected to see a moose in such a developed area, so that was a highlight.

We ate at Zack's in the hotel (often), and at Gambardella's Pasta Bella and at Lavelle's Bistro. The food was quite good everywhere, although I wish there were smaller portions. I guess its the American way to serve huge portions; a chef here in Cleveland reported he started a restaurant with superior ingredients and small portions, and did quite poorly until a friend suggested he sacrifice a little quality and increase the size of his entrees, and now he is doing quite well.

Our flight out was at 0130 (who picks these times?) so we had lunch at the hotel then caught their shuttle to the airport, thinking we would have dinner there. Unfortunately they won't let you check your luggage and enter the sterile area (inside security, where the restaurant was) until four hours before your flight. So we sat around reading and watching TSA bounce luggage. Alas, we ran out of books and the store was also inside security. They finally had mercy on us and let us in at 1800 so we could get some food and a few books. The restaurant was very basic, almost what we used to call a greasy spoon, but the food was not bad. I could just see the ghosts of a bunch of bush pilots sitting around there killing time between flights.

Fairbanks reportedly had gone through the coldest January in thirty or forty years, and even the people who are used to such cold were glad when the temperature climbed above zero just before we left. I think they even had to cancel some dogsled races!

Despite the cold, which we were eventually dressed for, the scenery was memorable. Apparently there is little wind there, and ice had crusted all the trees and bushed, then some light snow had topped that, and stayed as there was no wind to disturb it. I think that scenery will be our favorite memory of Fairbanks. Now I just have to find a certain way to view the northern lights.

BayouGal

Thanks so much for sharing your winter Alaska trip report with us!

Sorry you missed the borealis. Seems it's as hit and miss as seeing Denali on a clear day. The winter scenery must have been beautiful, and it sounds like you had a good trip.

We want to make a winter trip, but I think we'll cram our winter gear in backsacks and carry on! ;-)

BudgetQueen

There is a daily Aurora prediction site that is very useful and will predict when to stay in bed. The Fairbanks library has internet access and a wonderful selection of Alaska books. A great place to spend time in the winter.

I've done two winter trips and frankly, you need 2 weeks if aurora is a priority. Feb is also too cold for me, with March better for temps and 12 hours of daylight. Also the fantastic Ice Sculpting Championships. www.icealaska.com
I too found the winter scenery just excellent with it superior to all my other 18 trips. With "warmer" weather, there are plenty of excellent winter activities, snowmobiling which I went out on 3 times each trip. Dog sledding too, if of interest. Fairbanks, puts out a great Winter guide, so request it if a winter trip is a possibility. I like staying outside of Fairbanks, you just don't have the aurora views in the city. You need to get out in your car is you do stay in town. My favorite spot is from the Steese, just past the Chena Hot Springs exit, just over the hill. Complete darkness and breath taking aurora views.

Hope you get to see them, we had about 10 days of viewing one trip, but only 2 the other. Time is necessary for a sure thing.

BudgetQueen

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/predict.cgi

This is the aurora prediction site, extremely accurate.

dfrostnh

Thanks for the trip report. I would love to see the lights, too, but the closest I got was buying some notecards at a gift shop in Seward. Each card describes when and where the photograph was taken. A friend who now lives in the Fairbanks area showed us a handmade beaver hat that he said was too warm to wear unless it was at least 30 below. Glad your suitcase finally arrived!

clevelandbrown

I usually do carry on the suitcase with our coats, but this time I was carrying a large tripod that wouldn't fit in the baggage (I was all set to take great pictures of the aurora borealis, and you need a tripod for the long exposures), so I had to check the bag. This is the first problem we have had with checked luggage in quite a lot of flying.

Incidentally, I had switched to a digital camera and my son had inherited my olf SLR. Only when I started studying how to take night pictures did I realize the the new camera, wonderful as it is, does not have the old B setting where you can hold the shutter open as long as you want. Their longest setting is 15 seconds, and even with the ISO (film speed) setting at the maximum, I was close to being unable to get a good picture, if there had been a good picture.

I have actually seen the northern lights from home when we were out sailing in November, well away from land, with a wind that blew all the smog back toward the city, but they were very low on the horizon, so I am still looking for a better view. I think perhaps our family is jinxed; when my son was studying in Finland, some friends took him up above the arctic circle to see them, but the weather blocked their view. Now we have visited Alaska twice, but still not seen Mt. McKinley or the aurora borealis.

Since we were there only a short time, I enriched the taxi drivers rather than renting a car, but when we go back I plan on staying longer and renting a car. I also plan to find a pilot who will fly us around Mt. McKinley, above the #%$ clouds.

Do their rental cars routinely have studded snow tires, or is that an option I should ask for?

BudgetQueen

Rental cars do not come with studded tires and you really don't need them. More important is the insurance waiver since the roads are loaded with gravel, they do not salt.

As for McKinley flightseeing, for your priority, go with a summit flight- over the top. I fly most often with Talkeetna Aero, but K2 also does summit flights. "Regular" McKinley flightseeing, doesn't get up high enough and there is no comparism to a "summit view" and "summit" flight, so understand fully what you are purchasing.

I haven't seen McKinley that many times either, 6 times full view. But last trip in August, hit the bonanza- plenty of wildlife, snow in Denali- with a sliding bear down a hill Full view of McKinley and Northern Lights.

Just keep going back, always something new and exciting!!!!