By Amy Wolf, Sunset travel editor

Can't afford to eat out these days? Repeat after me: Yes you can. That is, if you know where to go. A growing number of restaurants around the West have been experimenting with a new payment model that amounts to a sliding price structure based on what you can afford. Crazy? Maybe. But in today's economy, maybe they're onto something. Just keep in mind that karma happens: pay what's fair. Happy Thanksgiving.

One World Everybody Eats
Where: Salt Lake City, UT
Food: Simple soups, salads, bread grains
Chew on this: A new branch has just opened in Spokane, WA.

So All May Eat Cafe (aka SAME Cafe)
Where: Denver, CO
Food: Healthy, organic soups, salads, and grains.
Chew on this: Volunteers servers welcome.

Shell Creek Grill & Wine Bar
Where: Edmunds, WA
Food: Pumpkin-ginger soup, wood-fired rack of lamb, black-truffle risotto
Chew on this: This is a traditional (and classy) restaurant experimenting with a new model in response to recent economic developments. Word has it business has doubled since the change was made.

Terra Bite Cafe
Where: Kirkland, WA
Serves: Coffee, pastries, energy bars
Food for thought: Word has it people pay an average of $3 per drink here. Sounds about right to me.

Know any other pay-as-you-wish cafes or restaurants in the West? Or got a review of one of the above? Do tell.

Portland craft guru Susan Beal offers tips on DIY gifts for the holiday season. Photo by John Clark

Expert: Susan Beal, author of the DIY jewelry book Bead Simple (Taunton Press, 2008; $20)

Field of study: Handcrafted holiday gifts and creative outlets

Inspiration Classes at DIY Lounge at Collage (from $20; 1639 N.E. Alberta St. and 4429 S.E. Woodstock Blvd., Portland; 503/804-2526) teach skills like encaustic painting and book binding. Craft Magazine covers everything from silk-screening projects to making roller skates.

Crafts supplies Dava Bead & Trade (2121 N.E. Broadway St., Portland; 503/288-3991) for glass and semiprecious beads. Cool Cottons (2417 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland; 503/232-0417) for room after room of fabrics organized by color.

Local fun Crafty Wonderland, Portland’s monthly arts-and-crafts extravaganza, takes place on the second Sunday of every month at the Doug Fir Lounge (830 E. Burnside St., Portland; 503/231-9663).

A three strand semi-precious necklace from Dava Bead & Trade. Photo courtesy davabead.com

DIY holiday gifts Simple bead earrings and vintage beaded necklaces (see video instructions and tips at beadsimple.com).

For the craft-challenged Handmade gifts online from artists around the world at Etsy,  or fail-safe kits like Therese Laskey’s Softies Kit ($25) to make oh-so-sophisticated, small-scale stuffed animals.

By Erika Ehmsen, Sunset copy chief

Oregon is ready for its close-up. And boy will it be scrutinized now that the first installment of the Twilight series is out. (The film opened at 12:01 a.m. on November 21, 2008; the DVD is scheduled to be released on March 21, 2009. Preorder a copy here.)

Vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), the mortal whose blood "sings" to him, high atop a tree in the Northwest. Photo by Deana Newcomb/Summit Entertainment

Readers of Stephenie Meyer's romantic vampire thrillers know the four-book series is set in Forks and La Push, Washington. Mossy tall trees, dramatic sea stacks, oft-cloudy skies—thousands of fans have made pilgrimages to Washington's Olympic Peninsula to be where Bella Swan and Edward Cullen lock eyes and lips.

So, does Oregon cut it as a stand-in? Scroll down and take a peek.

Bella and Edward in "Washington." Oregon tax breaks wooed Twilight producers here and nabbed the state “more than $20 million,” according to the StatesmanJournal.com. Photo by Summit Entertainment

Thanks to the incredible reporting and photography assistance of Twilight mega-fan Lyndsey Wymore, an Oregonian who lives a vampire-quick dash from beautiful Silver Falls (see below), we've pulled together this guide to where Twilight was filmed and what to do while you—or your teenage daughters—are lurking about Portland and the stunning Oregon coast.

Portland

First thing's first: Fly into Portland and rent a car. The riverside city will be your base for exploring. If the Cullen coven were vacationing in Portland, they wouldn't care about staying for cheap, but our list of cash-savers will help mere mortals who need to sleep and eat on a budget. If you left a little room in your suitcase, consider hitting some of the city' super-cute boutiques: Couldn't you just see stylish Alice shopping in the Pearl or decking out a party after a spending spree in the Fiber Arts District? (For more shopping, dining, hotel, and nightlife recommendations, click over to Sunset's joint project with 10Best for editors' picks.)

Speaking of the Cullens, their fabulously modern blond-wood-and-glass-walls home is in the hills of northwest Portland, but these photos from TwilightMoms.com are likely the closest you'll get to the private residence. On the outskirts of Portland is Oxbow Park (above). Says Lyndsey: "Pretty much if B&E are in a forest with large fir trees, it was shot in Oxbow Park. The scene where you see the deer running through the forest and then it gets taken down by Edward, that was also shot here. They brought in fog machines to make the forest look even creepier—very cool."

In Portland proper, you can drive by two set locations: Vibra Hospital, which acts as Forks Community Hospital; and Madison High School, which loaned out its cafeteria, hallways, and classrooms as one of two high schools to portray Forks H.S. (The exterior and parking lot of Kalama H.S., 50+ miles north in Washington, show up in some pivotal scenes, like Edward's first rescue of Bella. And, strangely, its wrestling room was transformed into an Arizona hospital room for a certain unlucky character.)

Moody and majestic Ecola State Park. Photo by Mario Vaden

The Oregon coast
Ready to dip your toes in the Pacific? Hop on U.S. 26 west and drive 1 1/2 hours to the coast. This is where horseshoe-shaped Indian Head beach—in Ecola State Park, near Cannon Beach and Seaside—stands in for La Push's First Beach, the spot where Bella learns the local legends of vampires and Quileute shape-shifters from pal Jacob.

With its similar driftwood and sea-stacked shores, Ecola's Indian Head is convincing. See for yourself: Oregon photographer (and arborist) Mario Vaden has some gorgeous Ecola vistas on his website. And TwilightExtremists.com has a whole slideshow of Indian Head shots.

Driftwood on a beach in Seaside, Oregon. Photo by Mario Vaden

"Forks" and "Port Angeles"

From here, either spend the night by the ocean—so you can do a day trip to "Forks" and "Port Angeles" on your way back to Portland—or simply head back to Portland and then backtrack a bit to hit these scene-setters another day: Largely portraying Forks is the town of Vernonia (off State 47, which spurs off from U.S. 26; it's about 1 hour from Portland or 1 1/4 hours from the coast). The biggest attraction in town? Perhaps the local branch of the Wauna Federal Credit Union, which Lyndsey notes stood in for the Forks Police Station.

About 1 hour from Vernonia (or 45 minutes north of Portland via U.S. 30) is St. Helens, whose circa-1844 Olde Town mostly* plays the role of Port Angeles (that's St. Helens below). The alley scene was shot here, and a vacant law office was transformed into the restaurant where Bella and Edward have their first dinner together (true, only Bella eats). Instead of the Bella Italia of the book (which really does exist on Washington's Olympic Peninsula), Lyndsey notes that it's called the Bloated Toad in the film (hmm, romantic?). *Bella's "Forks" house is also in St. Helens, and it's a charmer—but a private residence, so be respectful if you track it down. (Gardeners, plan ahead and make a stop in Scappoose on your way back to Portland: Joy Creek Nursery is only open by appointment in fall and winter, and it has a stunning selection of fall- and winter-blooming clematis.)

High-tech forests and the Carver Cafe
At this point, you're probably longing to see more of the woods that figure so prominently in the film—and perhaps you'd like to find a place to lie back in a meadow and daydream about a certain handsome immortal. Ok, maybe you won't actually lie down on the chilly ground in November. But if you're up for a hike and want to see where the Twilight meadow shots were filmed—at least initially, as the movie's big meadow scene was later reshot, purportedly at a California golf course—head about 30 minutes south of Portland to the town of Carver. Carver Park (that's it below) is striking, with mossy boulders like the ones Edward leads Bella to. Those actual boulders? Behind the View Point Inn (site of the prom scenes—scroll down for details), with the Columbia River as a backdrop. 

While you're down here, swing by the Carver Cafe, near the Clackamas River, for breakfast or lunch. The cafe's owners allowed it to be transformed into the favorite hangout of Bella's dad, Police Chief Charlie Swan. And they've mostly kept it that way, leaving up framed photos of the real town of Forks. (Oh, and if you're wondering where they shot the film's "Arizona" scenes, Lyndsey tells me that a warehouse in nearby Clackamas stood in for the hotel and ballet studio.)

Purists might want to skip the first half of this next suggestion, as it involves a scene that was added to move the story along ... and to get Bella and Edward out of his car and her bedroom, ahem. But if you want to see where Forks H.S. students take a field trip to a greenhouse (pictured below), check out the Clackamas Community College campus in Oregon City—it's about 20 minutes south of Carver and on the way to the tall trees of Silver Falls State Park (which are 1 1/4 hours south of Oregon City). These mossy green treetops were rigged for much of the movie's special-effects wirework—shots like Edward jumping out a window with Bella on his back. When you're ready to call it a day, head back to Portland.

Columbia River Gorge

To fill your last day with lasting visions of Northwest magnificence, head north to the Columbia River Gorge, the border between Oregon and Washington. Particularly impressive is Multnomah Falls, about 30 minutes from Portland. A "hey, Bella, look what I can do" add-on scene was shot here; in it, Edward shows off his mad vampire skills. Lyndsey was on-set that day: "In this scene, B&E are getting to know each other and he decides to show off a bit of his strength. So they are standing in front of the waterfall having a deep conversation and then he takes off and, within seconds, is a third of the way up the falls on the footbridge that goes across the falls. Pretty stinking cool." Update: I just saw the movie. This scene didn't make the final cut. You'll catch just a glimpse of it in the ending credits, under the Radiohead tune "15 Step." Maybe the bridge scene will end up on the DVD!

Directly across from the falls, on the Washington side of the Gorge, Lyndsey was lucky enough to get to play on the "vampire baseball field" (that's it above). The land is protected space and not open to the public, so I won't reveal its whereabouts. But there is a previously private stretch of land with breathtaking Gorge views that's opening to the public: Cape Horn Vista, where Edward takes Bella up to the treetops for a river view, is above State 14 near Wahougal, WA.

We'll leave you where Twilight closes: the View Point Inn, on the Oregon side of the Gorge, which gets decked out with a Monte Carlo scene for prom night (that's Lyndsey, on the set). The inn's website has some exclusive shots from filming. And beyond its romantic dinners and gorge-ous views, the inn is offering a special "Twilight Slumber Party" package on weekends.

Not convinced?

If you don't think that Oregon could possibly make a good stunt double and instead want to visit the real-deal Forks and Port Angeles, check out our recent article and follow-up.

Fan Lyndsey Wymore, seen here with Edward, erm, actor Robert Pattinson, plans to post a Twilight Highlight Tour on her blog soon after the movie is released. Some locations are up already. If not otherwise credited, all above photos are courtesy of Lyndsey Wymore. Thanks so much, Lyndsey!

When he’s not ascending Rainier or Everest (he’s summited 10 times), David Hahn hits the Southwest’s slopes. Photo by Jen Judge

Expert: Ski patroller and mountaineer Dave Hahn

Fields of study: Skiing in the Southwest and climbing peaks all over the world. Take a hike with Hahn through Rainier Mountaineering and International Mountain Guides.

Where’s the hands-down best skiing in the Southwest? Taos, Taos, and Taos (from $40, from $66 high season; 866/968-7386). But there is nothing wrong with southwestern Colorado’s Telluride (from $69, from $92 holiday season; 888/353-5473) either. I like steep and challenging mountains that have character, high altitude, sunshine, and cold snow.

Best après-ski margaritas in Taos? The Martini Tree Bar ($; upstairs from Tenderfoot Katie’s, in the resort center at the mountain base, 116 Sutton Place; 866/968-7386 ext. 1285) and the Hotel St. Bernard ($; 112 Sutton Place, on the slopes at the mountain base; 575/776-2251).

Favorite place to stay in town? The Hotel St. Bernard (from $1,608 per person for a seven-night stay, including meals and six days of lessons; 575/776-2251).

Climbers with International Mountain Guides descend past Needle Rock on Mt. Rainier.  Photo by Adam Angel, courtesy of www.mtrainierphoto.com 

What’s the best dinner in Taos? The Guadalajara Grill ($; 1384 Paseo del Pueblo Sur; 575/751-0063), a Mexican cafeteria on the north end. I always get the steak fajitas with corn tortillas at the Old Blinking Light ($$; milepost 1 on Ski Valley Rd.; 575/776-8787). And Sabroso ($$$; 470 State 150; 575/776-3333), just north of Taos in Arroyo Seco, though I don’t treat myself to it too often.

What’s your go-to ski shop? Taos’ Boot Doctors (in the Alpine Suites hotel, 103 Sutton Place; 575/776-2489).

Who’s the best instructor to call for a refresher course? Taos Ski Valley’s adult ski school manager, Jeff Mugleston (private one-hour lesson $170; 866/968-7386 ext. 1355).

By Peter Fish, Sunset editor-at-large

People have accused me of being obsessed by pirates. But I’d like to point out that pirates are currently the most cutting-edge job category in the world. Just take a look at today’s news: on NPR,  in the Washington Post, and in the San Francisco Chronicle's essential Bad Reporter.

It’s not too late for YOU to get on the Buccaneer Bandwagon. Or maybe that’s the Buccaneer Band-Galleon. I’ve already recommended writer Dave Eggers’ incomparable Pirate Supply Store at 826 Valencia Street in San Francisco. One visit here will outfit you with hooks, eye patches, bandannas and everything else you need for the pirate lifestyle--everything, that is, except a real seaworthy pirate ship. But if you had a pirate ship you might actually have to board a Saudi Arabian oil tanker. Or maybe get sunk yourself. More fun just to be a pirate at home.

Deepak Chopra shares his ways to live well and find New Year’s inspiration. Photo by Joe Schmelzer

Expert: Deepak Chopra, author, philosopher, and physician

Field of study: Personal and social transformation

Favorite spots for reflection in the West: Palm Desert, California; Yellowstone National Park; and Sedona, Arizona. Whenever I’m close to a desert, mountain, or ocean, I feel closer to the mystery of creation.

Tips for starting the new year: Make gradual and subtle changes that will rid toxins in your life, emotions, relationships, and work. Be aware and pay attention to your body; it has all kinds of sensations from pleasure to exhilaration and ecstasy, and if you can eavesdrop on that sensation, then do everything you can to maximize it.
 
Favorite restaurants and bookstores for feeding body and mind: George’s at the Cove ($$$; 1250 Prospect St., La Jolla; 858/454-4244). For Italian, Piatti ($$$; 2182 Avenida de la Playa, La Jolla; 858/454-1589). Bodhi Tree (8585 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood; 310/659-1733) for specialty books.

Relax and reflect in Palm Desert, California.  Photo courtesy of Palm Desert News Bureau

Where to stay: The Mondrian (from $445; 8440 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; 323/650-8999) is hip and delights the senses. Four Seasons in Santa Barbara (from $550; 1260 Channel Dr.; 805/969-2261), right by the ocean.

INFO Chopra’s latest book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, How to Create a New You (Random House; $25), will be released in April. Go to deepakchopra.com to find out more about classes at the Chopra Center at La Costa Resort and Spa (2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad; 760/494-1600).

Skip the mall: DIY husband-and-wife duo Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith share tips on making your own holiday gifts. Photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Experts: Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith, owners of the quirky-cool Curiosity Shoppe (closed Mon; 855 Valencia St., San Francisco; 415/671-5384)

Field of study: Handmade holiday presents

Go-to craft stores: Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles (closed Sun; 2982 Adeline St., Berkeley; 510/843-7290) is part museum, part retail store, with amazing books, supplies, and equipment for needlework, costumery, and lace making. SCRAP (closed Sun–Mon; 801 Toland St., San Francisco; entrance on Newcomb Ave.; 415/647-1746) is an endless maze of bins and barrels bursting with old catalogs, colored paper, carpet samples, and art supplies just begging to be reused.

Easy DIY ideas: Last year, we made marshmallows (see sunset.com/marshmallow for a video recipe) and packaged them with jam jars filled with hot chocolate from Ashland-based Dagoba Organic Chocolate (866/237-0152). This year, everyone is getting honey from our backyard beehive.

Inspirational craft groups: San Francisco’s Craft Gym (various locations; 415/702-5700) offers lessons in everything from metalworking to candle making. Stitchlounge.com is the site for aspiring knitters. 

Quick escapes for creative types: The Madonna Inn (100 Madonna Rd., San Luis Obispo; 805/543-3000): Each room is different, like “Rock Bottom,” with faux rock walls and ceiling. The gigantic blue cocktails at the Fairmont San Francisco’s Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar (950 Mason St.; 415/772-5278).

The Rock Bottom room at the Madonna Inn. Photo courtesy of the Madonna Inn

Earlier: Washington's Olympic Peninsula draws fans of "Twilight" vampire series

Update: Get yourself to Oregon for a taste of Twilight

by Elizabeth Jardina, Sunset researcher

Those Twilight fans — man, they're serious about their books.

Thanks to Twilighters visiting this site to read our story about visiting Forks, Washington, this blog has had a couple of record-breaking days, as well as some delightful comments.

A special shout-out to Faith R., whose parents have decided to take her on a trip to Washington as a result of our Forks story.

If you too are serious about visiting northwest Washington, I highly recommend reading travel editor Amy Wolf's article about the Olympic Peninsula from this past June. If anyone else needs persuasion — reluctant husbands, skeptical parents — send 'em there. They won't be able to resist.

Let's also take a moment to say hello to Lisa Hansen, the owner of TwilightMOMS.com (and a lifelong Sunset fan!) whose posting of our link helped us get many new readers. And provided us this comment:

This place is truly has the most majestic scenery I've ever seen in my life. It's one of those places I want to visit over and over again for years to come and the residents are absolutely wonderful!!!

Lisa is also a key source for our forthcoming post about where the movie version of Twilight — out Nov. 21 (that's Friday, people) — was filmed. Look for it at the end of this week.

About Port Angeles and taking the ferry

A few commenters have asked why we recommend a land route from Seattle to Forks rather than taking one of Washington State's ferries. Simply: Because we wanted to minimize confusion. For visitors who are not accustomed to using ferries as transit, it seemed easier to stay on land than figure out the ferry system.

You can, of course, take the ferry from the Seattle main terminal (at Pier 52) to Bainbridge Island — with your rental car too — and then head up State 305 to State 3 to State 104, or you can take the ferry from the dock in Edmonds to Kingston, Washington and take State 104 to State 101 and continue west to Forks. Adult fare is $6.70 each way; the car is an extra $11.55.

This northern route to Forks has the advantage of sending you through Port Angeles, home of the restaurant Bella Italia, where Edward and Bella have their first date. (Of sorts. If that's what you call it when your vampire not-quite-boyfriend rescues you from a bunch of bad guys, then sits you down to watch you eat mushroom ravioli.)

Twilight, the phenomenon

We aren't the only publication who's been writing about visiting Forks lately. The Los Angeles Times has a great story from Saturday's paper about Forks, and the Seattle Times wrote about Forks last week as an inexpensive vacation destination from Seattle.

I was also going to mention that some of the stars of Twilight will be at the West Hollywood Hot Topic store tomorrow, Nov. 18, but the event is already way, way sold out. (And the West Hollywood event doesn't even include Twilight star Robert Pattinson, whose appearances have created teen fervor all over the country in the past couple of weeks, notably in San Francisco, where a girl's nose was reportedly broken in a melee at Stonestown Galleria.)

Again, stay tuned for our next installment of of Twilight travel — movie edition.

Extreme ski champion Kim Reichhelm reveals the inside track on skiing Western slopes. Photo by Robb Pennie

Expert: Kim Reichhelm, World Extreme Skiing Champion

Field of study: Insider skiing in the West

Favorite skiing in the West: Alta (State 210 at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Alta, UT; 801/359-1078)—a real skier’s mountain.

“Secret” ski trail to try: Big Burn at Snowmass (800/308-6935) in Aspen has wide-open runs flanked by trees and is great for midlevel to expert skiers. It’s the place to be on Colorado powder days.

Best crowd-free resort: Snowbasin Resort (3925 E. Snowbasin Rd., Huntsville, UT; 888/437-5488) hosted a few 2002 Winter Olympics events and did a lot to improve the facilities. It has the nicest base lodge of any place I’ve seen.

Most inspiring view from a ski mountain: Alaska’s Alyeska Resort (1000 Arlberg Ave., Girdwood, AK; 907/754-1111). Looking out over the Turnagain Arm—an inland sea channel—you can sometimes see pods of orcas.

Go-to après-ski hangout: 39 Degrees Lounge at the Sky Hotel ($$; 709 E. Durant Ave., Aspen; 800/882-2582): a fairly young, hip place without the Aspen celebrity vibe—it’s for real skiers, and fantastic for people-watching. There’s a huge crackling fireplace, and the lounge spills out into a pool area with a hot tub.

Reichhelm's Ski Adventures sponsors a trip to Portillo, Chile. Photo courtesy skiwithkim.com

INFO Visit skiwithkim.com for information on Reichhelm’s ski camps and adventure skiing programs.

By Peter Fish, Sunset editor-at-large

What does seeing the Northern Lights for the first time feel like?

If you live any place that has earthquakes, you’ll know. It’s like feeling your first quake. As the night begins to shimmer, as ribbons of green light unroll across the stars, you have that feeling you get when the earth starts to tremble beneath you. Something you’ve taken for granted all your life is more astonishing than you ever imagined.

As amazing experiences go, the Northern Lights have this advantage over quakes: they won’t make anything fall down on you.  Speaking as someone who had an entire bookshelf land near him in San Francisco’s 1989 Loma Prieta quake, I find this a plus.

Northern Lights tourism has become a big deal in the last few years -- prompted, in part, by Patricia Schultz’ 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, which mentions them as  must-sees. In Norway, there are Northern Lights ocean cruises, and Canada’s Yukon has emerged as an aurora tourism center.

But I like Fairbanks, Alaska for lights viewing. Fairbanks has all the geographic essentials. It’s way far north -- 65 latitude.

That’s important. Caused by the solar wind hitting earth’s magnetic field, the aurora borealis centers around earth’s northern magnetic pole, so the farther north you are, the more lights activity there is. It has those looong Alaska winter nights. (Aurora activity goes on in summer, too, but you can’t see the lights in daytime. And Alaska summers have a lot of daytime.)

Also important: Because Fairbanks is inland, and ringed by mountains that block Alaska’s winter storms, winter nights tend to be less cloudy than elsewhere in the state. 

Seeing the aurora is always a gamble, but long cloudless nights help. Fairbanks tourism people say that if you stay 3 nights you have good odds of getting a viewing.  The scientists at the University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute Fairbanks -- also a world center of scientific study of the borealis -- say that February and March tend to have the best viewing conditions.

(If you become a complete aurora nerd -- and this is remarkably easy to do -- you will find yourself bookmarking the Geophysical Institute’s aurora forecast page.)   

Finally, Fairbanks has gone in for aurora tourism in a big way. Because, frankly, before the aurora boomlet hit, there weren’t a whole lot of tourists coming to Fairbanks in the winter.

Now there are, and Fairbanks would like even more. So area hotels and resorts are making it as easy as possible to take in the show.

How to plan your trip:

Start with Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau. Their site has an entire section devoted to winter visits and the northern lights. 

Getting there: Alaska Airlines flies into Fairbanks year-round; Delta and Northwest operate summer only.

Where to stay

There are hotels in downtown Fairbanks, but if you’re going to go all this way you should stay in a place that’s set up for northern lights viewing. Here are three:

Chena Hot Springs Resort. About 55 miles outside of Fairbanks, Chena may be the premiere place in the world to see the lights. No place works so hard to make sure you do--hauling you in a Snow Coach up to a mountain top yurt with a commanding view over half of interior Alaska. If the lights are going off anywhere, you can see them from here.

Chena has some other good winter attractions, too -- notably dogsled rides and the Aurora Ice Museum, where you can sit and order an apple martini in an ice martini glass while sitting on an ice barstool. And then, because you’ve just frozen your butt off, you can warm up in the hot springs that gives the resort its name.

A Taste of Alaska Lodge. Pretty bed and breakfast with good aurora viewing from adjacent field. 

The Aurora Borealis Lodge offers night time tours ($75) to see the lights--they’ll pick you up at your hotel and take you out to a handsome lodge with a deck for viewing the show. Now they’re building cabins for overnight guests; these should be finished this winter.   

Other attractions for aurora fans

University of Alaska Museum of the North. This is one of my favorite museums anywhere. First off, it’s beautiful -- a knife-sharp building that gleams like an iceberg in the low winter sun. The exhibits inside are just as good: first-rate Alaskan art (native, historic, contemporary), lots of Alaska natural history. And, incredibly cool, The Place Where You Go to Listen, a sound and light environment that mimics the movements of the aurora and the seismic activity of the Alaskan earth.

World Ice Art Championships. Ice dragons, ice mazes, ice everything. If you’re here in March, you need to see this -- you’ll never look at your ice cube tray in the same way again. Not quite as impressive as the aurora, but then what is?

More: Discover wild Alaska