Living in Alaska

LIVING IN ALASKA

I'll never forget the moment I stepped out of the airport after coming back to Alaska after living in Los Angeles for a year. The air was clean and there was pure silence. Those are qualities one takes for granted when you live in "The Last Frontier". I lived twenty years in Juneau, which is in the Southeast panhandle portion of Alaska. It's wet, windy and beautiful (not in that order).

Alaska's beauty is breath taking. The big mountains, the eagles soaring over the Gastineau Channel looking for food, and the people make Alaska special. Sure, it can get a little tedious running into people you know everywhere you go, but the people are friendly.

The one negative thing about Juneau is the fact that it happens to be in the middle of a rain forest. The statistical average of 223 rainy days a year is no exaggeration! Sometimes the rain comes sideways because of the Taku winds and you just can't avoid it. Ah, but the fresh air is second to none. In fact, the air is so clean; any hint of exhaust from a car can give you an instant headache.

Alaska is a very special place. Most people choose not to live there (only 700,000 residents in the whole state), but you can't consider yourself a world-class traveler without visiting Alaska.

If you get a chance to visit try taking a ferry through the Misty Fjords in Southeast Alaska. Follow this with a flight to Anchorage and a quick drive over to Denali National Park. You will then have seen all you need to see. And you will fall in love with the scenery and wildlife. There were summers that a black bear would be in our backyard every day. I even have the occasional nightmare about bears to prove it.

The amount of land will astonish you as the mountain range and glaciers seem never-ending. The locals don't fret about the weather as they see it as a perfect barrier to population growth.

When you do make that unforgettable journey to the Land of the Midnight Sun, just don't say you weren't warned about the rain!