For the first travel guide, we’re jumping into Fairbanks. It was my last trip before the onset of the current hellscape we’re all living in. My partner and I went last December, so yes, it was quite cold and snowy. But if you’re into snowy winter wonderlands, or you’re just willing to put up with the cold for some cool shit, I fully recommend Alaska in winter. How else can you experience the joys of dogsledding? And playing with reindeer in the snow?

Not sure when most people will feel comfortable traveling again, but keep this one in your back pocket for next winter maybe? (Fuck, I hope travel is back to normal by then…I mean good god please.)

As I mention in the About Me section, I don’t plan every second of my trips. So, the following list doesn’t cover every meal for everyday or fill all the hours. We spent a good part of our week in Fairbanks hunkered down in our cabin with the woodstove crackling, the snow falling outside, and a good book or boardgame.

Day 1:

• Breakfast at The Diner, where you can get your reindeer sausage fix if you so choose. And check out all the old-timey photos of Fairbanks on the walls.
• Visit to the Museum of the North at the University of Fairbanks.
  • It’s a small museum, but there are some cool exhibits on Alaska’s natural history and indigenous cultures. Plus the top of the hill where the museum is has a pretty nice view.

Day 2:

• Day trip to Chena Hot Springs. (Just over an hour from Fairbanks.)
  • There is a resort here that you can stay at, but you can also do what we did and just go for the day. There is a $15 day pass available for the hot springs (and pool and hot tub). The hot springs themselves are lovely, especially with the snowy hills all around.
  • While at Chena I also have to recommend checking out the sled dog kennels and the Aurora Ice Museum. The kennels have a tour available or you can go dogsledding. But you can also do what we did and just wander over to the kennels and say hi to the puppies.
  • The Ice Museum is also an additional fee but it’s fun to see the enormous and occasionally interactive ice sculptures—ice xylophone anyone? And you can get a cocktail in an ice glass! While sitting on an ice stool! At an ice bar! Ice!
  • I also recommend lunch or dinner at Chena’s restaurant which has great food and a good selection of Alaskan local beers.
• Stop for pie and coffee at Larae’s Breads, Pies, and Espresso on the way back to Fairbanks. Such. Good. Pie.

Day 3:

• Lunch at The Cookie Jar.
  • Cozy little spot with a specialty dish called a Beerock. Get it for a real stick-to-your-ribs, warm you up kind of meal.
• Dogsledding.
  • I don’t have a particular place to recommend for this; though, as I mentioned above, the kennels at Chena have this option and the folks working there were super friendly. We set up our dogsledding trip through our Airbnb hosts, who organized it with their friend.

Day 4:

• Visit to the Running Reindeer Ranch to hang out with reindeer friends.
  • This was probably my favorite experience on our trip. The Ranch’s guides were great (we were mostly with Elsa—yes, the Frozen connection was not lost on her). We loved getting to know the dozen or so reindeer by name and walking through the birch forest at dusk with them. And yes, you get to pet them. After the walk, there were cookies and hot cocoa back at their cozy house.
  • While this was definitely awesome in the winter, in the spring there’s the chance to see baby reindeer (!) and in the summer you can come to partake in reindeer yoga (also !).
• Dinner at the Pump House Restaurant.
  • Not only is the food here excellent—I fully endorse the Birch Syrup-Glazed, Bacon-Wrapped Scallops—but it’s got a real frontier-era feel, complete with giant stuffed Grizzly by the door.

Day 5:

• Day trip to Denali National Park.
  • This is about a two-hour drive from Fairbanks, so totally doable for a day trip if you just want to get a glimpse of Denali and maybe do a brief hike, which is what we did.
  • On the way out of town, be sure to stop at Gold Hill Express—a train car turned takeout stop—to grab some damn tasty breakfast sandwiches and extra, extra large coffees for the drive.
  • In the winter, most of the road into the park is closed, but you can go as far as the Visitor Center, which has a small info center and a cluster of other buildings, some of which are log cabins from the Park’s early days. There are some light, shorter hiking paths in the area that are nice if you don’t mind trekking through the snow. We even spotted an arctic hare chilling by one of the paths.

Day 6:

• Visit to North Pole.
  • No, not actually the North Pole. Yes, a town actually called North Pole. (Note on the town’s Santa Claus House below.)
  • Have Breakfast at the Country Café in North Pole. Their Croissant French Toast was SO DAMN GOOD. Plus the place is Guy Fieri-approved. His fashion choices are questionable, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t find delicious diner food.

Final Recommendations:

• Looking for gifts for deserving friends/family back home?
  • For coffee lovers, pick up some bags of Raven’s Brew beans from one of the supermarkets. I liked it so much that I now order it from their website when I’m feeling the particular need for a fancier cup of coffee.
  • An ulu is an excellent gift for anyone who likes to cook, or who just likes knives. It’s a traditional knife used for a variety of things, including skinning animals. But its curved shape makes it awesome for chopping veggies—for those of us not living in the wilderness. You can go fancy with this gift and get an engraved ulu made with reindeer antler, or you can go the affordable route for people you like less.
  • There are gift shops at a few of the places I mentioned above and my favorite was the very small assortment of items at Running Reindeer, where I bought a carved reindeer antler for myself (no reindeer were harmed in the making of this item). They also had antler jewelry, socks made from reindeer wool, etc.
  • We also went to the Santa Claus House in North Pole—essentially a big Christmas store with a giant Santa statue outside. I have to say, a lot of the stuff there was a bit tacky, but great for kids to say hi to Santa. And they have lots of ornaments so you can say you have a Christmas ornament from North Pole.
  • We still needed gifts for a few people at the end of the trip, so we went to the Co-op Market Grocery in downtown Fairbanks. They had a nice small section with local stuff—think birch syrup, berry teas, cutting boards carved into the shape of Alaska, and so on.
• You don’t have to drive far outside of the city to start feeling like you’re in the Alaskan wilderness. We stayed at a small cabin next to our Airbnb host’s house in the Ester area and it was gorgeous. We had a gorgeous full moon that week and it felt surprisingly remote surrounded by pine trees. It was very quiet and had very little light pollution (great if you’re lucky enough to catch the northern lights) but we also felt good knowing we were only a few minutes’ drive to restaurants and the airport.