The Northern Lights refuse to show. Options? Wink, wink.

So, outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, apparently a man with a vision and a lot of money had an idea to create an immersive Northern Lights experience. Nancy stumbled across this place and made reservations over a year ago.

I just wanted to nerd out about the geodome igloos that were imagined, engineered, and created specifically for sleeping under the stars and literally staring up at the Aurora Borealis from bed when it is -40 outside.

All of them are situated for privacy. Which is good because a significant part of your walls and roof consists of clear windows with no curtains. Included is a private porch for outdoor viewing, if desired.

The experience when you first walk in reminds me of any outer space alien movie I have ever seen, blended with every deep water disaster movie.

Dashed off with just a touch of old scene sets from the original Planet of the Apes (sans Charleston Heston, of course).

I just loved the engineering of this little bubble. Where they had to blend the round with the square and so many confusing angles, it was as whimsical and fun as it was mathematically terrifying.

There was even a bathroom! Which was the only way the designer could somehow work a triangle into this trigonometry teacher’s nightmare. When snow piles up on the window, the instructions are simple: turn up the heat.

At night is when the magic happens. Instead of clouds, this would have either been the stariest of nights or an incredible display of the Northern Lights.

But at least on a stormy night, the little pods looked like some cool astronaut base in the middle of the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon (it was at least cold enough out).

It snowed on and off during our two-night stay, and the clouds never abated. These would be the last storms and temps of winter. The clear skies of spring were so close. When we checked out, there were only two more days left in the eight-month season.

However, we did manage to take an authentic dog sled ride. Our musher was Annie Dargan, and she introduced us to her personal dog team and had them drag our fat asses around for a bit.

Annie started out as a preschool teacher but is now the real deal when it comes to sledding. She just turned thirty and is an Iditarod veteran. She contracts out a couple of days a week with the tourist operations to feed her sled racing habit (and her dogs). She is definitely worth checking out on Facebook.

 

So what do you do when the Northern Light shuts you down? Well, you watch the alternative Northern Lights. You can see them in the daytime. They dance. They wink. And they are attached to the back end of a sled dog.

And here is the other alternative. With enough of it, you can create your own private Northern Lights that no one else will see. Much like Option 1, it is not night dependant.

Funny thing. Our entire stay there was actually FREE. However, this bottle of lower-mid-level Canadian whiskey set me back about two grand. It’s interesting how life always seems to balance out.

GoatBoy is coming in from the cold. Soon.