It has been 13 years since we have been to North Pole to see my family. When you put a lot of Irish cousins into a small room, we give new meaning to the term chaos! I forgot how much I love hanging out with them. Lots of catching up, re-living our wood stacking lessons as kids, eating, drinking and sitting by a fire. Because an Austin ALWAYS has a fire. We got to meet all the young Austin cousins and they were all absolutely adorable. Little Miss Jordyn made me a beautiful card. The best part was spending several hours just visiting with my Uncle Gene. He talked about his trucking runs (yes, at 83 he is still trucking across Alaska), he told us lots of stories, and told us of how he met his beautiful bride of almost 60 years. I could listen to all of my uncles tell stories all day long. Also got to sit and talk with my aunt and listen to her laugh.

While we were up there it snowed the first couple of days . We toured the Museum of the North that cousin PJ helped build at U of A and drove around the campus. It’s a beautiful building and campus. And we never take a trip without seeing places unintentionally. This was no different. Siri took us on the very scenic route to the The Trans Alaska Pipeline.But it was Alaska, so it was beautiful. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Alaskaland, which was open, but nothing inside was open, so a brief walk around at 29 degrees outside, we decided it was time to go warm up.

The Next day we drove up to Chena Hot Springs Resort and saw the Aurora Ice Museum. Touring that made outside seem like tropical weather. It was a nice 20 degrees inside and everything is carved out of ice. They do have 4 small rooms you can rent, to the tune of $600 a night. But the beds and everything are made out of ice. At the end of the tour you get one of their famous apple martini’s served in a hand carved ice martini glass. Once you finish your drink, you are supposed to go outside with your glass, make a wish and throw in on the ground. The resort was a beautiful place, you can sit in the hot springs, view the Northern Lights, take flight tours, ice fishing tours, ATV tours, see the sled dogs and more. And rent rooms that aren’t quite so cold.

We loved our visit and catching up. It’s definately a beautiful state.