Alaska is a love hate relationship. Either you really love
being an Alaskan or you are counting the days until you can change your area
code away from 907. Alaska is a two-sided coin that can bring you a sense of
freedom or leave you feeling misplaced. It is a place of extremes.
The energy of the midnight sun is exhilarating, each summer day propelling 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 outshines the flames of the fire but neither outshine the warmth of
the laughter when you’re in good company.
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, and lightning bugs. I do miss these from
my childhood living in Minnesota.
The winters here can swallow you up in the immense 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 at such a Northern latitude. Just when
you are about to surrender and start making a moving day plan the Northern
Lights (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, filled with sunshine I remind
myself, Alaska before you die.
A person can get to know themselves on any one of Alaska’s 360 million acres.
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 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.
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