A View

June 20th, 2009
Hatcher's Pass, Alaska

I remember the day I arrived in Alaska. Saturday, August 9th, 2008. I had traveled across Canada for three days. North, north, north I went and the weather was so surprisingly warm. I remember staring at the plugs coming out the grills on front of cars. They made the cars look like dead cartoon characters, with their tongues sticking out. Dead from the heat.

It took so long to drive to Alaska that I thought I had traveled to a new planet. Everything looked so different. The sunlight lasted into the "night." The mountains blocked my view in the rear view mirror. Mountains the same color as a thunderstorm. I would look in my mirror and think, there's a storm coming - being use to the flat land of the south as I was. I would drive for hours and not see a town. Rest stops consist of outhouses. Highways were gravel and had two unmarked lanes. I saw my first bear, buffalo, moose and lynx sighting all in one day.

Yes, a far away planet. But imagine how refreshing to find out this far away planet speaks your language, uses your currency and has Taco Bells. That is Alaska.