Glacier Flight and Chena Hot Springs

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Hello from our summer home 2009. One of the perks of working where we are is the ability to get free or discounted activities. One of the discounted activities we have taken advantage of is a glacier flight. The airplane takes off from Healy Alaska and flies 120 miles one way to the Ruth Glacier on Denali (Mt. McKinley). A private citizen established a homestead on the mountain and was given 5 acres before the area became a wilderness area. The federal government tried to claim the land, but court rulings favored the private citizen, this is why they can land on the glacier. We could see the cabin (and the outhouse) but we were not allowed to get too close. You can stay in it for $100 per person per night. They are booked up through 2010! Now we have something to look forward to in the future. We enjoyed the trip greatly.

Sally on the glacier flight

View from the plane

Tom next to the plane - a 1966 DeHavilland Beaver (turboprop)

The "Mountain House" with Denali in the background

The 2 peaks of Denali

The lifestyle we have chosen also gives us opportunities to visit local areas and see the how the area overcomes it's problems. Most of Alaska is wilderness. In remote areas it is difficult to provide a lot of the amenities that we take for granted in area of high density population. One of the biggest difficulties is utilities, especially electricity. Many "towns" use diesil generators to provide power. Chena Hot Springs is a year round resort. They use the hot springs to creat electricity. It powers the lodges, the greenhouse and the ice museum. The price per kilowatt hour is still a little high, but they are getting better at reducing the cost. They use the greenhouse to grow, year round, vegetables for salads using growlights. The ice museum is cooled in the summer with this power, keeping the rooms inside at 20 degrees F, even with the temp outside above 90. We stayed the night in a Yurt, a round tent like structure. The cots were a little narrow, so we moved our bedding from the truck to floor. It was almost roughing it. We enjoyed the hot spring pool. All in all it was a good two weeks.

An actual size turbine used to power Chena Hot Springs Resort

Heading into the Ice Museum

Tom waiting for Chere to serve up his appletini

(ONLY alcoholic beverages served here - at 20 degrees everything else freezes)

The Outhouse bedroom - for $600 you can spend a night here

It's really cold - even with the caribou skin blankets

Tom holding the ice martini glass.

It was in the 70's outside - didn't last very long

BTW, Tom did wear a parka inside, but he didn't zip it up.

Thanks for reading our little blubs. More of Alaska is on it's way.