Smells like Independence!

Happy 4th y'all! Jay and I went for yet another long drive waaayyyy up to Chena Hot Springs. We were told that Fairbanks has the best hottest weather in the whole state but what a surprise it rained and was freezing the whole 3 days..ugh!!! Well at least the hot springs were, well, hot! We actually had a blast though. No fireworks either, kinda tough with the sun not going down I guess. We can hear some, but can't see 'em, boo! Happy 4th!

Pretty views but the clouds were covering the good stuff. We should have been able to see big Denali. 

 Hey who says New Englanders don't get out? There's Jay hammin' it up with some Vermonters we passed along the way, you can almost make out the license plate! They were psyched to meet us, well him, I'm hiding in the truck as you can tell.

 This place was pretty neat, the whole thing was all slanted inside like a funhouse. Not sure why, but I do know there would be no getting drunk and getting out without falling on my face for sure.

 This place is called: Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn.  Tell me that's not the funniest thing you ever heard? Cool place just South of Fairbanks, lots of toilet humor. Yea, I felt like I was right at home :-)

This is the bus from the movie "Into the Wild" the original is still located 20 miles into the bush, this one is at the 49th State Brewery.  

 So we make it all the way up to the Chena Hot Springs Resort and literally the first thing we see is a giant male moose jogging across the veranda (??). So bizzarre, but cool! He had little antlers too..I personally was keeping a look out for a squirrel wearing a fighter pilot helmet.

 Chena Hot Springs! Oh my the Craisian Invasion was a force to be reckoned with...so many Craisians. The springs were definitely the major saving grace of the weekend though, soooo hot.

See I got to wear a bathing suit at least once this summer!

 We did get some fishing/boating in but the skies opened up on us pretty quick.

Yea I know the last thing anyone wants to hear about is ice, but you have friends who live in Alaska so get over it! This is the ice museum that the resort keeps up during the off season. We took the tour...check it out below!!

It's got a bar and tons of cool ice sculptures. It's also got 4 bedrooms that you can stay in for a reasonable $600/night! And the beds are made of ice...say what!?

They actually said the resort is not allowed to advertise these rooms as an overnight option because the fire marshall said the rooms are not up to code because they don't have fire suppression systems in place....fire suppression?? In a room made of ice!!?? Whhaaa???

 Xylephone (sp?) made of ice. It played music! And yes, that is a full-on winter jacket because it was 25 degrees in there. On the bright side, when we ran outside, the 50 degree weather felt really warm! I know, the little successes are what count.

$15 apple martinis...yup they take tourists for everything they're worth up here. But we ate it all up and even ran with the glasses to the resort bar for one more martini, LOL

 This is a very exotic Melti Martini...I made that up...I am funny.

Who cares if it's raining when you got tarps and chicken. True story though, our table got slick from rain drops and our grill went sliding off the table. We were more concerned about saving the chicken from our dog's quick reflexes than starting a forest fire. We done good.

Cold, wet, smiling....I love ethanol.