Today, after a restful night of sleep following our eventful aurora viewing last night, we got up and had our daily group meeting. After discussing yesterday’s experiences and today’s events, we went our separate ways to prepare for the day, then hopped on the bus to begin our sightseeing. On the way to our first destination, we stopped at the Transatlantic Pipeline and learned about the effects it has had on the native community since its creation.
Our next destination of the day was the Santa Claus House in North Pole Alaska, a large, Christmas-themed store that sold many souvenirs as well as fudge and had a soda bar where we could customize our own sodas. We also had the opportunity to take pictures with Santa in the back of the store. After this, we went to our next destination, Fred Meyers, a large grocery store similar to a Wegmans. We picked up grab and go options for lunch and snacks for the rest of our trip.
Afterwards, we visited two museums, the Pioneer Museum and the Alaska Aviation Museum. At the Pioneer Museum, we learned about Rusty Heurlin, who created 12 mural-sized paintings detailing the lives of pioneers in Alaska. Next, we learned about mining methods that were once used in Alaska by these pioneers to find gold and other precious minerals.
Finally, we were given some time to explore the museum before moving on to our next stop, the Alaska Aviation Museum. At this museum, we learned about the aviation history of Alaska and followed it up with an exciting scavenger hunt. After a few hours of museum-going, our group moved on to our next stop: dinner!
Today, we had dinner at the Food Factory; our meals ranged from classic burgers to a sesame salad. While at dinner, we took some time to catch up and relax before returning to the hotel around 6 p.m. Then, we were given about two hours to rest in the hotel in preparation for an adventurous night, which included a trip to the Ice Alaska Ice Park and an aurora viewing session at Aurora Pointe.
Our time at Ice Alaska was filled with energy and award-winning ice sculptures. Everyone’s favorite part of the park was the ice slides, which we spent almost all of our time at the park using. We rented sleds and went down three different very fast slides; some even took it upon themselves to see how many of us could fit on a sled successfully at once (the answer was eight!).
Lastly, we took a super cute group picture at a photo opportunity spot in the park, then got back on the bus and headed to Aurora Pointe. There, we enjoyed refreshments and snacks while waiting for the aurora activity to begin. We also learned about the science behind the northern lights. On Friday night, there was a large CME, a coronal mass ejection, increasing the chances of the northern lights being visible. A CME is magnetized plasma erupted from the sun’s outer atmosphere, which likely had an effect on the high level of activity we were able to see on Saturday night. Tonight’s activity wasn’t as bright as last night’s, but we ended our day outside enjoying the aurora by a bonfire, which was the perfect way to end our final day in Fairbanks.