This morning we returned to New York after a 2 week-plus honeymoon to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. We hiked, saw family, grew in many ways, and even slept in for a few days here and there.
After flying to Seattle, the next day we drove over to Wenatchee National Park, and did a night of car camping to test out our stove and gear. The following day, we did what turned out to be a very strenuous 1-day hike to Robin Lake, via Tuck Lake, and camped next to a cool alpine lake. Another day of hiking and camping in Wenatchee (and no bears yet) and we drove down to Portland where we ended up crashing at a cousin's house and seeing the solar eclipse in Mollala, OR. It was hosted by the Mollala Public library which supplied free eclipse glasses, camera obscura making, and music. (This in contrast to the many events at $200+ across the state. Go public libraries!) Totality really was cool. I'm not an eclipse-chaser yet, but it was way cooler than I thought it would be.
We went to downtown Portland for a night, then drove up to camp in Olympic State Park near Seattle and then did city things for 2 days. Pike Place Market, Space Needle, and the incredible Chihuly Glass exhibit at the botanical gardens. I've loved the look of Chilhuly glass, but never had the opportunity to fully appreciate his artistry and the way it reflects and pays homage to the things he loves in life.
And then to Alaska! The first big adventure was Denali. We had originally just thought to car camp there and hike around, but as we started to research their website, it became clear that they really encourage and inform people about backcountry camping and hiking. There are no trails, just topo maps, and you make up your course, telling them only what unit (large area designation) in which you will be sleeping. You are out there with wildlife, and although we started simply, this was still a growing experience. We followed the East Fork Toklat River bed through gravel and learned how to (and that we could) cross rivers. In Denali we literally got our feet wet, and through their great park organization and rangers, learned to step beyond our fear (well, a bit) and become immersed in the wild.
We meant to camp more, but it rained a lot. The first night after Denali we found a last minute room at the Black Bear Saloon. I think these rooms are usually for people that shouldn't drive home. but we loved the bed and hot showers. We (Andrew) drove through the rain, through a three-mile tunnel to Whittier (only way to get there is this single-lane tunnel that controls traffic in and out, and is shared with a train), and went to Seward for beautiful rainy views of the ocean. And then we drove, by way of a salmon river viewing, to my Uncle Dave's home in Kasilof, which overlooks the Kenai Nature Preserve. The next few days we went, sea kayaking with otters, and went on several hikes, sometimes muddy sometimes glacial, and every night indulged with a warm bed, the outdoor weather being too wet and unpredictable to camp when such a nice option was available.
And we listened to AM, and observed people's reactions when we said we were visiting from New York City (one man said, "Oh I'm sorry.") This is a land of hunting, and fishing, and owning a plane in order to get to certain places (there are hardly any roads, and some towns are not connected to the rest of the state). It's a place of having freedom to do what you want, and not owing anything to the government. And it's a place of space (no billboards), of isolation, of time. The internet doesn't reliably work, and thus Blockbuster lives on.
And so it was a shock to come back to New York, which is not a place of any of these things. But the value of New York is it's people. And sometimes that's good and sometime people forget themselves and others and it's a challenge. In Alaska, it is so much easier to avoid those slips. There isn't often an occasion. One can be alone with nature so so easily. It was wonderful to be there and I think we would love to get back again, just to remember a different way of living that cannot, despite the many many ways of living that are around us in this city, be lived here.
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