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SWEDEN: Rick and Joy Spohn from Morgan Hill celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary by staying in the iconic ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi, a small village in the Swedish Lapland. The area is home to the indigenous Sami, who were descendants of nomads who lived in North Scandinavia for thousands of years. The hotel is made entirely out of ice and snow, and drinks are served out of ice lasses. The ice blocks are gathered from the nearby Torne River each year and molded by artists and sculptors to construct the temporary residence. Rick and Joy enjoyed local delicacies from the hotel restaurant’s ice menu and slept on an ice mattress. They went snowmobiling, dog sledding, Icelandic horseback riding and reindeer sledding, then soaked in the views of the northern lights.

TRAVEL TIPS: Joy says, “Each year the ice hotel is built in November and melts in the spring, so it is a short season. Surprisingly, wearing good thermal underclothes is all that is required. It was well worth renting arctic jumpsuits for the activities. Many of the excursions included them.  It is also best to stay in a cold room one night and extend the stay longer in a warm, ‘normal’ room to increase the opportunity to see the northern lights.”

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