The Alaskan honeymoon is over and I'm back at my dining room table writing another blog post.
There are lots of orders to pack and things to get done. With only a few days of summer left I'm embracing each and every one with much love. It's been a great year for me—and an amazing summer.
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| An Alaskan glacier. |
Going to Alaska was a bit of a surprise. I'd never visited but it has always been a dream of mine. Back when I was 18 I'd thought very seriously of going to college there to study environment science and biology. When John suggested it—since neither one of us had been there—I was so excited.
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| Alaskan taiga and stream. |
My father always visited Alaska in early September. (He's a salmon fisherman and that's what you do if you fish.) I never understood why he went, and why he always seemed to miss my birthday, but I understand now.
It's a place that gets under your skin. I want to return each and every September for my birthday now. I get it.
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| Alaskan birch forest, (Betula neoalaskana). |
We only saw a tiny portion of what the state has to offer. I have been to Texas and I can say now that they have nothing on Alaska. It would be far easier to survive down there than in Alaska. I think that's a huge part of the charm. It really heightens the senses and makes you feel alive and small in its vast landscape.
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| Alaskan landscape. |
There will be more posts to come. I have a party to prepare for right now and I must continue to work hard.
I still hear the sounds though of planes in my ears and my eyes are yet filled with the vast expanse of beauty which I've just witnessed.
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| Alaskan landscape. |
I hope to find my book about the native plants of Alaska. I oddly misplaced it before we left but since it was my honeymoon I let it go. (Don't think I just looked at plants! I won't even begin right now to tell you about the amazing food.)
Lastly, there were the animals. We saw a lot of them but we knew it would be difficult to see grizzlies in the wild since we were traveling by car. I had even mentally prepared myself to see
no bears so that I wouldn't be disappointed. Then, to my delight and surprise—during the cruise out to the
Kenai Fjords National Park—we saw a black bear cruising the beach of a small island not far from the open sea. I was quite pleased.
Ok. More on plant life soon.
The amazing silent landscape of Alaska, you must have been very excited to be there. The first photo of the glacier is almost surrealistic. The taiga and the stream and last but not least the bear. I should lik to go there too, but it is very far away. Am looking forward to your next post.
ReplyDeleteIt is worth traveling the distance. I still cannot say enough about how nice everyone was too.
DeleteI am going to enjoy all of your Alaskan posts! I hope to go in a few years time. What a brilliant trip for a Honeymoon!
ReplyDeleteLike I keep saying, the last time I felt like an Oregonian again I was in Alaska. You will go. You need to go.
DeleteMakes me homesick!
ReplyDeleteThere's a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run god knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair.
There are hardships that nobody recons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There's a land - oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back - and I will.
from "The Spell of the Yukon" by Robert Service
I'm glad you had a good time in my home state!
I love Robert Service and we now love Alaska. Deeply.
DeleteWe cannot wait to go back to your home state and it's funny how we still can't stop thinking about it.
My dad cracked me up. He dropped off salmon and asked, "So? Did it get under your skin? Alaska's like that you know." I hugged him and said, "Yes, it's under my skin. I get it now."
So worth bonding with my dad again too.