North Pole, Alaska is a real town

…and it’s all-Santa, all the time!

So you can drop by Santa’s house

And guests old and young can meet Santa in person. (Indoors, silly! This is just a statue of santa). The real Santa is an old man who sits comfortably in his heated home in a cozy red suit, chatting with guests and taking pictures).

And of course you can meet his reindeer as well. Yes, my first day in Alaska was also my first reindeer sighting!

My first weekend in Alaska was also my first time to see the northern lights. I was getting ready for bed at the hostel when one of the visitors from Japan checked the weather calculations and determined now was an ideal time to see the aurora borealis. Sure enough he was right! I got dressed, grabbed my point and shoot, and snapped a few pics.

“An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere. The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by the Earth’s magnetic field into the atmosphere.”

It can be hard in November because while it’s peak viewing season, it’s also snowy many nights. If the sky is clouded over with snow clouds, there’s no viewing, so we lucked out that despite it snowing all weekend, the skies cleared just enough at night that we got a great showing! These pics don’t do them justice… next time if I’ve got more gear or time I’ll try to more better shots, maybe out of town somewhere.

In the morning it was back to cloudy… here’s the view from my downtown hotel room.

Fairbanks is a tiny town, so it’s not hard to pick local joints for meals. The Loose Moose cafe was the site of my first caribou burger. Yum! Also brought home some of their reindeer and caribou jerky for the housemates so they wouldn’t feel left out of the adventure.

Signs like this were helpful for locals and outsiders alike. If it’s below 20F, you’re supposed to plug in your car engine all day so your engine doesn’t freeze. This morning was -9 (i.e. 40 below freezing!), so that seemed wise!

I made plans to spend the weekend outside of town at Chena Hot Springs. They’ve been around for over a hundred years. The resort was low-budget (but costly) and the trip was totally worth it!

The hot springs were hot and so, so great, especially with the snow falling all around and the -20F weather!

Alaska style

No tourist trip would be complete without a visit to the real, legit ice museum

Drinking at the ice bar out of carved ice martini glasses

The grounds has lots of winter options, including tours of the dog kennels and the chance to take out a dog sled team

With this much wilderness, how could I not go for a hike? It was -20F and I was on my own, so I kept it to just a couple of miles and had my camera ready just in case I had any wildlife sightings.

Snow, snow, snow!

Totally happy to be hiking in the snow in my warm, warm Land’s End parka and Sorel snow boots!

While I saw lots of natural beauty, I sadly didn’t spot any winter hare, wolves, or moose…

I did, however, spot a fair number of tracks in the snow that were apparently going the same direction as me.

At the end of the weekend, the drive back into Fairbanks was just as entertaining as the resort itself!

While I definitely didn’t want to *hit* a moose, I wouldn’t have minded seeing one along the roadside. Alas… maybe on my next trip!

Robert and Erika

Pretty birds

Snowshoeing with David out at Lost Lake

Alexis checking out the scene at the lifts

The view from our Pinnacle Ridge condo was amazing – we looked out directly onto the slopes and the ski lift. Truly awe-some.

On the bright side, I did get to see the aurora borealis (the northern lights)! I’d never seen them before and was crossing my fingers I’d get the chance! The space forecast is strong this year and this time of the year, but sadly if it’s overcast you can’t see them. I was treated to multiple days of snow in both Fairbanks and Anchorage, but the sky did clear two nights in Fairbanks and I was able to see a modest aurora both nights! Hooray! Photos will be posted later… promise!

Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center
101 Dunkel Street, Fairbanks
(907) 459-3700
Open year round!
http://www.explorefairbanks.com/visitor-information-centers

Don’t let the words “visitors center” fool you. While they do have a small area for brochures for local companies, they have a very large, impressive, and free museum and cultural center! “In addition to trip planning services, there is a theatre showing free films and programs on Alaska’s natural, cultural and visitor history and an exhibit hall featuring 9,000 square feet of museum-quality interpretive displays and dioramas depicting Interior Alaskan landscapes and seasons. The center also offers an artisans’ workshop and demonstration area, an Elders gathering area, cultural and environmental education classrooms, outdoor recreational space, and an Alaska Geographic gift store.”

Also important to note – they’re open 7 days a week year-round, 363 days a year (closed Xmas and Thanksgiving). This is impressive and noteworthy as many “tourist” attractions in Alaska close from Sept-April… it’s not easy to find open museums when the weather is -20F and the tourists have all returned home.

University of Alaska Museum of the North
PO Box 756960, Fairbanks, AK 99775
(907) 474-7505

http://www.uaf.edu/museum/

This museum is located on the top of a hill on the university campus, overlooking the city. It’s a choice location, a beautiful building, and a large collection of rooms and exhibits. Sadly, it closes at 5pm, so I only had 45 minutes to go over my lunch break, but even that period of time was a good intro to the history and culture… native, Russian, European, Spanish, and more. Will need to go back for longer if I get a future Fairbanks trip in my future.

Springhill Suites by Marriott
575 1st Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99701
(800) 314-0858
This was a gorgeous hotel, seriously stylish and comfy rooms, with nice views overlooking town and the river. Hotel also has free breakfast, fresh baked cookies, a fancy restaurant, fireplace and sitting area, pool, fitness center, etc. Pretty impressive for a small town.

Loose Moose Cafe
3450 Airport Way, Fairbanks
Has huge burgers made from buffalo, beef, or caribou meat (and hotdogs made of pork or reindeer!). It seems like it’d be touristy with a menu like that, but it’s so not touristy. It’s more low budget/dive in a red and yellow hasn’t been decorated since the 1960s with creepy circus and clown decor theme. That said, my sweet potato fries ($2.50) were perfect and my caribou burger ($8.75) was tasty. Frozen meat is also for sale should you need to take home some buffalo, reindeer, or caribou sausage. I brought home some reindeer and caribou jerky to share with the housemates. Mmmm…

Sam’s Sourdough Cafe
3702 Cameron Street Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 479-0523
The travelers at the hostel recommended this diner for the most amazing breakfast ever. They loved the sourdough pancakes, reindeer sausage, and biscuits and gravy. Breakfast and lunch are apparently packed with long lines, so I went for dinner when it was easy to get a table. (I did order a side of sourdough pancakes so I could sample a bite. I found them unusual but enjoyable (they were indeed sourdough – definitely not your sweet, standard pancake). You can get reindeer and eggs for $11 or chicken fried steak for $11, and a whole host of breakfast or dinner entrees. I went twice for breakfast foods – once because it was near the book store and the other time because it was the closest place to the museum. While the food was decent, the patrons seated to the sides of my table on both trips were consistently ignorant (with many uninformed comments, some racist comments, and some comments about how women shouldn’t be given the right to vote. Yikes.) Staff were consistently polite, so I’m hoping it was just bad luck/bad timing and that the establishment doesn’t actively seek out such a crowd. It was hard to hold my tongue, but didn’t think lashing out at strangers would be an effective model for education. If that crowd was always there, I probably wouldn’t be able to eat there… I’d just get too agitated.

Gulliver’s Books
www.shopgulliversbooks.com
3525 College Road Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 474-9574
This place came highly recommended by the travelers in the hostel… guess it’s kind of the Powell’s Books of the north but much smaller. I’d tried to order a book from Amazon Prime to ship to my hotel in Anchorage, and found that Prime in Alaska can mean 7 days free shipping (not 1-2 day free shipping). Turns out this little store was perfect and had the exact book in stock (a Seattle author on natural child birth that my sister in law recommended). Local, independent business to the rescue!

Brewsters Pub
http://www.brewstersalaska.com
This place reminded me of the Latona Pub or Elysian. I didn’t sample any local beers, but their Southwest chicken salad ($12) filled my craving for a gluten free meal with lots of veggies.

Billies backpackers hostel in Fairbanks
http://www.alaskahostel.com/
This small, simple hostel had $30 dorm beds and a genuinely friendly international crowd. It had room for maybe 10-15 people max, mostly in bunk beds. There were PhD students working at nearby Univ of Alaska Fairbanks, travelers from around Europe, a guy from Japan who comes every year to hunt for the northern lights, and a very sweet local who I wanted to hug within minutes of meeting him. Thanks to the guy from Japan and his studying the weather patterns, I was alerted to the aurora and got to see it last night once the snow stopped! Amazing! My checklist for Alaska (hot springs and northern lights) is now complete! Ah, simple pleasures!

Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska
http://www.santaclaushouse.com
The town of North Pole is decked out as a Christmas wonderland year round with candy cane light posts, businesses with Christmas themed buildings, and streets named things like Santa Claus Lane, St. Nicholas Drive, Snowman Lane, and Kris Kringle Drive. The Santa Claus House has been around since 1952, has all of the North Pole gifts you could ever need, has live reindeer out back, and the world’s biggest Santa. With a kitchy tourist trap like that, how could I resist at least driving through town, greeting the reindeer, and getting a photo in Santa’s sleigh?

Hot Licks Homemade Ice Cream
372 Old Chena Pump Road, Fairbanks, AK
http://www.hotlicks.net
Local, small batch ice cream from Fairbanks. Gay, black, liberal staff with homemade ice cream made my week. :)

Lemongrass Thai
388 Old Chena Pump Road
Fairbanks, AK 99709
lemongrassalaska.com
Alaska has lots of Thai places all over, it seems, and this one was a lucky find. The owners were friendly and they had many longtime/regular customers there whose kids they knew by sight or name. They had traditional Thai dishes as well as many dishes from the north like Kao Soi ($13) – noodles that are everywhere in Chaing Mai but much harder to find in Seattle. Yum (and spicy!)!

Siam Dishes
338 Old Steese Highway
Fairbanks, AK 99701
Not much for ambiance, but they had tasty basil chicken for $9.95.

The Diner
244 Illinois St
Fairbanks, AK 99701
Simple, classic, old school diner. Tasty turkey melt for $7.95. Yes, I ate some gluten as sandwiches seemed to be the only option for lunch. Happily, a little bit doesn’t destroy me.

On the drive from Twisp to Okanogan – gorgeous blue skies out one direction

And out the other window, super smokey skies from nearby forest fires

On the way between Seattle and Twisp (100 NE of Seattle) is the tiny town of Marblemount, WA – the self described “Gateway to the American Alps.” Technically Marblemount might not even be a town, it’s a “census-designated place (CDP) in Skagit County” with a population of 203 people. My friend Steve hails from Marblemount and I was so excited to finally pass through town that I decided to stop for lunch.

Que Car BBQ
http://www.quecarbbq.com/
Marblemount, WA
I went to the Que Car BBQ, located in a restored 1944 caboose, just off the side of the highway. For $7.25 you can get a great lunch with tasty BBQ smoked on site. Also, there was a little helper maybe 7 years old with some of the best manners I’ve ever seen on a child. And while you wait to pick up your order, you can sit on the picnic benches and enjoy the mountain views surrounding town. Recommended!

About an hour and a half outside of Fairbanks, the road dead ends at Chena Hot Springs. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive there, the snowy landscape, the geothermal hot springs, and the laid back atmosphere of the place. The hot springs are the main attraction and have had visitors since 1905. There are four pools and tubs and one large boulder lined lake, all filled with water from the natural springs that comes in at 156F. Compare that to today’s outside temps of 9F and the water was positively delightful! (I was toasty warm hanging out in the lake and the outside air was cold enough that my hair froze into sharp hard spears on my head!). Today I spent some time hiking the trails in the 156 acres of wilderness around Chena. Sadly, no sign of beavers or moose. On the bright side, gorgeous and peaceful to walk among the gently falling snow. I was wishing my hiking partners Caroline and Jess were here!

The resort itself wasn’t fancy and it had options for any budget. Rooms were $100-$300. You could enjoy the springs (included) or scenery (lots of hiking trails), tour of the ice museum ($15), tour the sled dog kennels ($20), or even do flightseeing (from their tiny airport, $$$). Want a nice meal? Seafood or steaks for $35. Mid-range salads/sandwiches options for $12. Or budget travelers can get microwaveable pizza/burgers/cup of ramen noodles for $2-3.

All in all an enjoyable weekend adventure to welcome me to Alaska!

Twisp, WA is in the mountains and forest, has less than 1,000 people, and has great hiking in the summer and world class cross country skiing in the winter. (Apparently many Olympians come from Twisp and/or retire to Twisp). The town also has a delightful little new hotel right on the river, a pub, a bakery, natural foods coop, a couple of other bars and cafes, many artists studios, yoga, and two playhouses. I was thoroughly impressed with their hippy flavor and cultural offerings, especially for such a small town! (My father grew up in a town of a similar size in the rural midwest and his town of under 1,000 people didn’t have any artists studios on main street, no theatres, no yoga, no natural foods coops. Neat to see what a small community can support (in addition to the agriculture, the feed store, and the hardware shop they also rely on).

Tappi (Italian restaurant)
201 S Glover St
Twisp, WA 98856
(509) 997-3345
http://www.tappitwisp.com
You don’t always expect to find fancy-ish restaurants in tiny towns, but Tappi’s is famously good rustic Italian dining with a friendly owner in a small, cozy setting. While the menu was small, they did have a few meat, salad, and polenta options for gluten free people like me. (If they could substitute in a gluten free pasta into a couple of their dishes then I’d be even more excited).

Twisp River Suites

140 Twisp River Road Twisp, WA 98856
(509) 997-0100
www.twispriversuites.com
Brand new hotel offers many comforts, right in town overlooking the river. They offer fully equipped kitchens, in-suite washer/dryers, a lovely breakfast, occasional live music, and a great patio with heaters so you can enjoy the gorgeous scenery all around.

Hotel

View from my room

Cinnamon Twisp
116 North Glover Street Twisp, WA 98856
(509) 997-5030
www.cinnamontwisp.com
When I asked friends on Facebook what I should do in Twisp, the answer was overwhelmingly votes for hiking and for visiting the bakery! I was there for all day work meetings, so I didn’t have time for hiking. However, I did make time to stop by there to pick up a chocolately oat bar – yum! Highly recommended, especially for people who can eat wheat!

Blue Star Coffee Roasters
3 Twisp Airport Road Twisp, WA 98856
(509) 997-2583
www.bluestarcoffeeroasters.com
The national Coffee Fest 2012 competition picked Twisp’s Blue Star Coffee Roasters as America’s Best Espresso based on flavor complexity, mouthfeel and appeal, and aftertaste. I drank it while in town and picked up some from their roasting HQ to take home with me.

Twisp River Pub & Brewery
State Route 20 Twisp, WA 98856
(509) 997-6822
www.methowbrewing.com
The Twisp River Pub was the source of two of my meals while in town, has frequent live music, and was definitely the most happening place around. The food was well praised by my companions and their beers were popular. (My view was a bit skewed… their menu was pretty limited for a gluten free person who doesn’t drink beer (even their pad thai used wheat noodles and even their tacos used flour tortillas). I’ll withhold judging them (either good or bad), but suspect they’d be great for people who aren’t me. With a few tweaks of their menu, it’d be lovely.

Giant awesome public art in Twisp, WA

Giant awesome public art in Twisp, WA

The Cup
-A breakfast and lunch diner with history and nice views. Lunches around $10-12.
464 West Sims Way
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360) 379-9059

The Bayview Cafe
-Another diner with history and nice waterfront views. Lunches around $10.
1539 Water Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360-385-1461

Muskan Indian Food
-Home to seriously tasty palak paneer and enormous portion sizes compared to any place in Seattle (and only $10)! I had to stop myself from eating the whole entree as it was so delicious.
2330 Washington Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360) 379-9275

Harborside Inn
-The Harborside Inn is a renovated motel on the waterfront in Port Townsend, with waterfront views of the fishing and sail boats in the marina.
330 Benedict Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360) 385-7909

Enjoy a few quick pictures!

The WA State Ferry system hard at work

Legit fishing and crabbing town

View from my cheap hotel room isn’t too shabby

The Observatory Restaurant
www.theobservatorypdx.com
8115 Southeast Stark Street
Portland, OR 97215
(503) 445-6284
“The Observatory does elegant dinners, quick lunches, inventive happy hour snacks, delicious cocktails and amazing desserts.”

Rebecca, full of ideas and adventures!

I began the culinary adventure with a bloody mary-esque drink made out of beets. Wow!

We sampled two starters, including a really delicious diablo ceviche.

The chicken pate was good (though it couldn’t compare with the ceviche).

And for my main, I had a grilled sirloin with chimmichuri (as the recommendation of the waiter, how could I resist?).

And for dessert, we split the Peanut Butter Mousse Parfait. It was super rich, and maybe a bit overkill, but two people splitting it meant the portion was more reasonable. :)

Unrelated, Rebecca’s been crafting and brought me a cute quilted gift! Love them!

All in all, a wonderful night full of great conversation and wonderful food!

Ned Ludd, an American Craft Kitchen
3925 NE Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard at NE Failing Street
Portland, OR

http://www.nedluddpdx.com/

(503) 288-6900

Tabla
200 NE 28th Ave
Portland, OR 97232
www.tabla-restaurant.com
(503) 238-3777

Pine State Biscuits (breakfast)
3640 SE Belmont St
Portland, OR 97214-4326
www.pinestatebiscuits.com
(503) 236-3346

Farm Cafe
10 SE 7th Ave
Portland, OR 97214-1244
www.thefarmcafe.com
(503) 736-3276