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Salmon Glacier, Alaska: When Travel Comes Full Circle
What happens when travel comes full circle? That’s not what I was thinking as I chatted with a shaggy-haired 20-something as he pulled a stack of postcards out of the sun-visor of his Prius. “You look like you’re loaded down”, he called over the gas pump before the Sweetgrass boarder crossing. His words were muffled in the wind. Something about the way he said it caught my attention. “You’re headed to Alaska”. He had said it as more of a statement than a question. I too soon would learn to recognize the difference between a Canada tourist and those making the long-haul North. We’d pulled over at the last place…
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Denali
Ma Kettle, that’s what I called myself in the little Alaska shanty cabin in the woods near Healy. With no measuring cups, I was failing at making pancakes. The mix to milk ratio was off. There was a sticky burned mess on the bottom of the pan. The floors were made of plywood and I, the barefoot queen, wore my shoes at all times as to not get splinters. I hated the way walking barefoot in this particular cabin made my feet feel unbearably dirty. I cringed every time I looked up at the ménage à trois sign that decorated the cabin overhead. It was difficult for me to imagine…
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Possibly the Only Story You Will Ever Read About Alaska’s North Slope, Prudhoe Bay, Deadhorse, and the Alaskan Arctic [Part 2]
You can find Part 1 of this story here The inside of the Arctic Oilfield Hotel looked like a camp that you might see in Antarctica. It was complete with everything needed to keep you entertained and sane during the brutal winter: x-box room, free fancy laundry, board games, all you can eat snacks. We wore required medical grade latex booties over our shoes because it was mud season, and let’s be honest, working in the oilfield required getting down and dirty. We were the only visitors to the camp who weren’t on business. As one of the only females in town, especially a young female, the members of the…
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Possibly the Only Story You Will Ever Read About Alaska’s North Slope, Prudhoe Bay, Deadhorse, and the Alaskan Arctic [Part 1]
I had an unnatural, burning desire to see all of Alaska, at least as much its 700,000 square miles of wilderness as possible. That fervor was how I found myself on the first mile of the Dalton Highway, surveying the seemly empty expanse of the Arctic. Speed limit 50 next 416 miles—that was our introduction to the Dalton Highway, Alaska’s northernmost road. But 50 was faster than the Dalton typically allowed, potholed and frost-heave ridden as it was. We dodged lose gravel from eighteen-wheelers. The gravel showers were capable of shattering the windshield. The Dalton highway began 80 miles north of Fairbanks and snaked 500 miles north to Prudhoe Bay and…
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My Cheat Sheet Guide to the Parks of Wild Alaska
What to do in Alaska
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Scenic Bear Viewing at Lake Clark, Alaska
Very rarely do I come home and immediately start writing– but I can’t contain myself . . . you won’t believe what I did today! All my life I have been an animal lover, fascinated by wildlife behavior on nature shows. I had never actually seen a brown bear in the wild. Today my inner seven year old girl squealed as I became that wildlife photographer. Now I just had to be brave enough to actually do it. My guide, Martin, from Scenic Bear Viewing in Homer, Alaska took me out in his plane to Lake Clark National Park where we photographed wild Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears in their natural…
