Springs, Surf and Turf!

We arrived at the Cheena hot springs around midday and paid our $10 each for a day pass to the pools. The hot springs themselves have to be cooled down before they are safe to bathe in, there were two indoor hot tubs and a 25m swimming pool as well as a hot tub outside, but the main attraction was a very large rock pool outside where we spent most of our time. it had a fountain and water jet in it and the bootm was made of gravel. Interestingly the pool was not the same temperature throughout with some areas being much hotter than others, you could see the steam rising above the water and several of the rocks bordering the pool made for excellent seats where you could sit and relax. It was like a hot bath and we spent about 1.5hours relaxing there but could easily have spent all day. It was noce to have a contrast between the cool day and the springs and especially when it started raining with the cold rain. We drove back to fairbanks with Mae falling asleep in the passenger seat and decided to to go look at the trans Alaska pipeline wich carries oil trom the top of the state to the refineries in Valdez. However whilst travelling along a small road I happened to see sitting at the side of the road an old passenger jet. Just sitting there left to rust. With the nearest airfield at least 40 miles away it seemed quite a strange thing to find. The pipeline itself is owened by the state of Alaska and pays every resident a dividend of between $1000-$2000 every year from the revenue generated. It wasthen time to get changed and head round to Bill and Rita's for dinner. We had Alaska surf and turf (again) but this time it consisted of moose burgers (burgers in Alaska are far less greasy than those we get at home), Salmon both King and Pink (we were informed we wouldn't be allowed to leave untill we could tell the difference), and home grown brocaflower. (a combination of brocoli and coliflower). After the meal we showed Bill some kizomba and had a look at his Salsa DVD collection which is rather large!! He also very kindly provided us with a camp stove, pots, foam mattress and a pair of sunglasses!! Then the Dancing started, We danced on Bills patio, he had put a piece of lino down to make a pretty goo dance floor enough for about 8 couples. He also provided Margaritas, which seems to be a very common drink around here, yum! We danced untill about 1 am with various people coming and going at different points, and Bill and I had a discution about the timing of dancing on2. After a brief basic kizomba lesson we left at about 2am with plans to leave Fairbanks the next morning.