The energy of the midnight sun is exhilarating, each summer day driving you to push yourself to stay up late just one more night. One more project completed. One more bike ride in the evening. One more campfire, where the glow of the sun always outshines the flames of the fire but neither outshine the warmth of the laughter.
There is something missing from our summers that we do not think about unless we have recently been outside to visit a lower latitude - the stars shining bright on a warm dark summer evening. I do miss that from my childhood living in Minnesota.
The winters here can swallow you up in the vast darkness that settles into each nook and cranny. The bitter cold will soak into your bones giving you pause to question your sanity for living where you live. Just when you are about to surrender and start making a moving day plan the Northern Lights (the Aurora Borealis) put on a spectacular show and remind you why you call this place home.
Thousands of people save their pennies each day for that once in a lifetime trip to Alaska. "Alaska, before you die!", reads the billboard on the freeway that leads into Minneapolis Minnesota. So on those bleak forlorn winter nights when I want nothing more than to relinquish my last frontier residency for somewhere, anywhere sunny and warm I have to remind myself...Alaska before you die.
A person can get to know themselves on any one of Alaska’s 360 million acers. Bring with you your adventurous spirit, a warm sleeping bag, and a sense of humor. Oh and enough money in your pocket for a return airline ticket “home” just in case you hate it. You will arrive as a cheechako (newcomer) and do not want to be a sourdough (sour on Alaska but do not have enough dough to leave).
As for my relationship with Alaska, I’d say it is still love. There are many more acres yet to explore and share here on Mistletoe & Juniper.
