Catching up on Alaska

Greetings from New York City, I have moved from the least densely populated state, Alaska, to the most densely populated state, New Jersey. And I’m back to the blogging world as well. From what I hear, the summer has been amazing so far in Alaska. I’m jealous, and I miss all of my friends. But life goes on, and I am already making some really great friends here in NY/NJ. I am living in Hoboken, New Jersey just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. I’ll have more on this in future blogs.

Since my last blog, I have hosted my family in Alaska, escaped the Alaskan winter for a week to visit the quaint surfer town of Jaco, Costa Rica, road tripped with an old friend from the dirty south to the dirty jerz, hopped and skipped to tampa, fl for my grandmother’s 80th birthday surprise party, and begun my new life in the land of the economic crisis - Wall Street, the Bronx Bombers, and Eli Manning (what a bunch of losers). This posting will focus on the last couple months of my Alaskan Adventure, and more specifically the refreshing visit from the fam…..refreshing even though I did have to share my one bedroom apartment with 3 other people….energizing even though my brother left me with an awfully nasty sniffle.

Shortly after my last post on January 9, the weather flip-flopped like a politician from -15 degrees to 45 in a matter of days. The city melted and I found myself longing for frigid temperatures again so that I could get out and enjoy boarding and cross country skiing to keep myself occupied….if only for the 6-8 hours of daylight. January and February were long, cold, dark months…..these are the months that make Alaskans wonder why they waste their lives on this ice block….especially considering the nation’s longest serving Republican Senator from Alaska, Ted Stevens, had recently lost his senate seat by a narrow defeat because of his conviction on 7 criminal charges…..the charges were subsequently dropped.

But the month of March finally arrived and offered a glimpse of the magnificent Alaskan summer. Temperatures climbed to the thirties, cold enough to keep the city in a deep freeze, but warm enough to entice me outside. Daylight was rapidly returning, the Iditarod was gearing up, and summer was right around the corner. My mom, brother and sister-in-law visited Alaska in mid-march. I hadn’t seen them since Christmas.

The morning after they arrived, we walked downtown to see the beginning of the last great race, the Iditarod. For those that don’t know, the Iditarod is a dog-sledding race from Willow to Nome, Alaska covering almost 1200 miles. Each team is allowed to have 16 dogs, the fastest time ever recorded is a little under 9 days. It was an interesting start to the week, since later in the week we actually visited a commercial dog-sledding family. A man and wife live in a small cabin in the sparsely populated town of Talkeetna. Their property includes a 2 mile trail groomed for sledding and a fenced in area to house their over 50 sled-dogs. The man, formerly a doctor, began training dogs about 5 years ago, and has since participated in several races including the Iditarod. One thing we all noticed during the start of the Iditarod was how eager the dogs were to start the race…..they were panting and whining and when the musher finally allowed them to go, some dogs literally jump started. Our personal sled-dogs were even more eager to begin mushing. Some animal rights activist’s have pushed to stop the Iditarod citing animal cruelty…..though the man we met told us stories of dogs injured during the Iditarod that whined because they could no longer continue with the team. The doctor told us about the unique bond between the dogs and himself......and he also told us about the strategies of the race….eating, sleeping, choosing a leader, pace, booties to keep the footsies of the dogs warm and padded, personalities of the dogs, races leading up to the Iditarod….conversation with this man and his wife alone was worth the $25, but we also got to ride the dog sled around his property for 20-30 minutes as well.

Perhaps the most amazing adventure of the visit happened the same day as the dog sledding. We purchased a flight-seeing trip over Mt. Mckinley, the tallest mountain in North America. The plane was a single prop and just large enough to fit the pilot and my family of four. We flew through glacial gorges and valleys, towered over beautiful snow covered mountains, watched snow mobilers plow through fresh snow below, and wondered what all of this might look like in the summer with running rivers. I really can’t describe the beauty….it’s times like these that you sit back and realize that you are looking at the purest of God’s creations…….calculated chaos. One day I want to follow in my mom and dad’s footsteps and get a pilot’s license….and when I do I can think of nothing better than to come back to Alaska and explore the state in the way it was meant to be explored…..3 million lakes in which to land to access your own personal haven…or heaven. One of my good Alaskan friends is already on his way in this goal.

A few other highlights from the visit…..we spent a day skiing at Alyeska, and my sister-in-law thought she was suffering from altitude sickness…..Alyeska sits right on the Cook Inlet. I went Ice Skating with my brother, and we saw a kid being pulled by his leashed dog……the kid promptly fell down and the dog continued running pulling the boy on his butt behind him. We made snow angels in front of city hall, ate delicious pizza at Moose’s Tooth, enjoyed salmon, halibut and porkchops at Simon and Seaforts, and reminisced about the winters of our childhood in Buffalo. It was a once in a lifetime vacation with my family, learning about dog-sledding, flying over mountains and valleys, skiing, and watching sunsets over water and mountains. Someday we will return in the summer to make this a twice in a lifetime event.

After my family left, I only had 3 weeks left in this place I was starting to call home. My friends threw me a couple of amazing going away parties; Redoubt erupted and then erupted again and again and again; I visited the North Slope again to find -70 degree windchills; I went to Fairbanks to visit an old friend and had an amazing weekend seeing world-class ice sculptures (and ice slides), tubing down a mountain, searching for the northern lights, swimming in natural hot springs in 0 degree temps, and drinking appletinis in an ice hotel; and I prepared to leave behind the close friends that made 7 months on that iceblock totally worth it. And a sidenote, I made a 30 minute presentation on my work accomplishments and learnings and was invited to come back to work in Alaska assuming that they will start hiring again someday after this economic crisis is over.

So there you have it, a recap of my last 3 months in Alaska. Soon I will catch everyone up on my trip to Costa Rica, my roadtrip from Mississippi to New Jersey, and a wonderful Memorial Day camping/hiking trip to the Adirondack Mountains.