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WINTER WONDERLAND“We’re going where?” A family trip to the far reaches of Alaska

is a memorable success despite initial doubts.

Adventures

At the time of year when most travel-ers are packing swimsuits and heading off to a warm beach, my family was digging through our closets to find our warmest sweaters, hats, mittens, scarves and long johns. My husband Ed and I, our 5-year-old son James and 14-year-old daughter Fiona did pack our swim-suits, but our destination was hundreds of miles from the nearest beach: We were headed to Fairbanks, Alaska.

When I first suggested a mid-winter trip to Alaska, Ed raised one eyebrow and gave me a long look. “You know it’s going to be cold, right?” he warned.

On the plane, as we made our de-scent into Fairbanks, James looked out the window and saw snow and moun-tain peaks as far as he could see in any direction. “That’s Alaska. Oh yeah!” he said, a grin spreading across his face.

I knew this adventure was going to be great.

Miles from nowhereFairbanks, population of about

32,000, is situated in central Alaska, a

state that measures 2,400 miles from east to west and 1,420 miles from north to south. Alaska is bigger than Texas, California and Montana combined. It’s 500 miles from Fairbanks to the nearest significant population centers — Prud-hoe Bay to the north, and Nome to the west. Much of the state has no roads. In fact, Alaska’s state capital, Juneau, can be accessed only by air or water.

Our plan called for flying from Eugene into Fairbanks on a Thursday, picking up a rental car, and driving about 30 miles outside of town to a lodge. We would stay there for three nights, then take a train on the Alaska

Railroad from Fairbanks to Wasilla, staying in a hotel for three nights there, and flying out of Anchorage the fol-lowing Thursday. Getting to Fairbanks isn’t hard — an hour or so flight from Eugene to Seattle followed by a 31/2 hour flight to Fairbanks and a change of the clock to an hour earlier.

I wasn’t allowing myself to antici-pate much, but the timing was right for us to see the aurora borealis, or northern lights. During the first night at the lodge, I set my alarm four times to get up. Each time I awoke, I dressed to

During her family’s first mid-winter vacation in Alaska, writer Vanessa Salvia captures the depth of the season aboard the Aurora Winter Train as it rounds a snowy bend on the Alaska Railroad.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

By Vanessa SalviaFOR THE REGISTER-GUARD

Photos courtesy of Vanessa Salvia