When I woke up, my sister was sacked out in the next bed, sleeping soundly. I tiptoed out to the couch to work on the blog but after a while my eyes started shutting so I stretched out and napped. By the time Lisa rolled out of bed I was ready to find some breakfast and seek out some adventure!

Watching the sun rise at 9 am from the couch!

When we went downstairs to the hotel lobby looking for breakfast and discovered the restaurant was closed for breakfast and lunch on the weekends. We thought about taking a taxi but realized that we’d need one everywhere we wanted to go. Our tour to the Northern Lights didn’t even start until 8pm and there was a lot to see before that so I decided to rent a car to make it easier to get around. We took a taxi out to the airport and picked one up.

Becoming a snow driver. Well, a snow driver who is always aware of the selfie opportunities.

From the airport, we went to The Oasis. Our hotel staff had recommended that we check it out and order the Cordon Blue omelets. The food was amazing but the best part was the Touch Tunes Jukebox! While Lisa told me all about her amazing experience viewing the Northern Lights the night before, I entertained the crowd with a clever mix of Scissor Sisters and Rolling Stones.

The coffee was delicious and the omelet was amazing.

After breakfast, we headed south to North Pole, Alaska. It was a short drive and the lame tires on our rental car made it very exciting! We slipped on the ice a couple of times, mostly in the roundabouts but eventually pulled into the Santa Claus House parking lot.

Santa!

Before we went in to do some shopping, we walked over to the Antler Academy to check on Santa’s team.

Also at the Santa Claus House was the Antler Academy! With actual reindeer! And suddenly I felt much better about not eating the reindeer sausage at breakfast.

After that we wandered through the ice sculptures.

Every day is a happy holiday in North Pole, Alaska

We were having a great time snapping photos there until someone walking by in an official looking uniform came by and said that they weren’t officially open so we needed to keep an eye out for heavy equipment. She said they wouldn’t see us so if we saw them we needed to get out of the way. She also told us not to touch anything since the ice sculptures were fragile.

No ice sculptures were harmed in the making of this blog post.

We felt bad that we’d been climbing all over those things, so we turned around and headed back into the shop.

Pausing for a picnic before we head into the shop.

Inside the shop, we picked up a few souvenirs. I got a sparkly reindeer ornament to add to my girl power tree and some peanut brittle made from beer for Bob and Angel.

Good shopping at Santa’s House!

Our next stop was pioneer park. Someone on Lisa’s tour had told her that the park was closed but still worth seeing and you could walk through it and take some great pictures.

Pioneer Park so charming, even in the dead of winter!

Boy howdy were they right! We saw President Warren Harding’s train car from his tour of Denali and a street comprised of original cabins from the turn of the century.

So many photo ops…

The houses were adorable.

Kitty had a nice house.

We found bloody snow…

Something bad went down here, you guys…

And bird art.

I like bird art.

We walked around the giant frozen steamboat that felt strangely out of place.

I guess whenever I thought of steamboats I thought of bayous. It never occurred to me they would be used on the tundra.

And then headed out of the park.

Pioneer Park was definitely a highlight!

It was starting to get dark and we had a tour booked to see the Aurora Borealis. Lisa was concerned that there was some cloud cover, so she called to confirm we were still going. It was still on, but not until 8 so we drove through the downtown area to check it out.

Streetart in Alaska that just screams Alaska.

We popped into Fred Meyer to pick up some food to cook dinner in our fancy hotel suite. Fred Meyer is like the love child of a Wegmans and a Target. They’ve got everything you need and lots of things you want! We returned to the hotel to cook dinner and take a nap before our northern lights excursion!

Plugging in the car because it gets chilly at night in Fairbanks in January!