RV Alaska 2011: DAY 27: THE CHENA HOT SPRINGS

We awoke to beautiful sunshine and 50 degrees, however as the day progressed the temperature reached 78 and it really felt warm. Nancy did laundry, I did clean-up chores and Ben and Bonnie went to yard sales. The local car club brought their cars to the campground again today and one of them was a 1958 Rolls Royce. I struck up a conservation with the owner and his wife and he said "go ahead and set in it if you want"; well being a car guy I couldn't resist.

LOTS OF COTTONWOOD TREES SURROUND OUR CAMP SITE AND IF YOU LOOK
CLOSE YOU CAN SEE THE "COTTON" LIKE SEED PODS HANGING IN THIS TREE

THE WHITE ON THE GROUND ARE COTTONWOOD TREE SEED PODS AND THE AIR IS FULL
OF THE WIND BLOWN COTTON WHICH IS CAUSING EVERYONE'S ALLERGIES TO FLAIR UP

After lunch Nancy and I drove to the Chena Hot Springs about 75 miles out of town. We hiked one of the nature trails and saw a beaver dam. I took a tour and learned that the electricity used to run the resort is generated using geothermal powered electric turbines and all the building are geothermal heated. They have a geothermal heated green house which supplies all the vegetables used in their restaurant and to feed the staff of 70 two meals each day. The green house has the greatest temperature differential of any green house in the world, maintaining a toasty 80 degrees even when it is -55 degrees outside. Nancy and I toured the Aurora Ice Museum and the ice sculptures were truly amazing. On the way back we saw a very large moose drinking from a roadside pond.