The Mudflats

At home, my backyard is, well, a paved parking lot that borders the local phone company headquarters. If you walk a few miles through my neighborhood you will actually find yourself in the middle of an international airport. Today I took a walk through a slightly different backyard. Our walk was cut short by flooding, though as you can see, not all of us were detoured by the water. A week ago, I left an area that was experiencing record levels of heat and drought. Now, I find myself half a world away in an area that is in the middle of a record-breaking streak of continuous days of rain. It is 70 degrees, sunny and everything is a lush green from all the rain. This weather is everything that summer was not on the east coast. Here, the backyard leads to a trail down to the mudflats. The flooding from the Knik Arm below the Chugach Range lends some explanation as to how this old WWII boat might have made it this far inland. Once again, I am on a walk that is impacted by water - what a fascinating barrier...

Anchorage, AK

Walking through downtown Anchorage we really could have been walking through any American city. There were aggressive cab drivers trying to pass the city buses, there were too many coffee shops to count, boutiques, parking garages and a mall anchored by a Nordstrom. But as we left the Anchorage Museum and headed out into the drizzling afternoon, all we had to do was look up to be reminded of how far from home we were. Rising up into the cloudy sky, the Chugach Mountain Range dwarfed the city. Having spent the summer walking through heat-stricken Philadelphia, the cool damp air was a relief. It even served as an excuse to head into the Cake Studio, which sounds like art but definitely smelled like a bakery. I had assumed at the edge of one of the last wild frontiers on the planet we would find moose or bears or wolves, but instead we managed to stumble onto a new frontier of deliciousness. What a fabulous city!

Talkeetna, AK

As I am a firm believer in the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will simply leave you with these two images. It was certainly beautiful, though "downtown" seems like a bit of an exaggeration.

Denali National Park

Yesterday began with a trip via the Alaska Rail Road from Anchorage up to Denali. The glass domed ceilings on the train cars allowed for impressive views of mother nature in all her majesty. We pulled into the Denali stop, in the middle of Denali National Park and Preserve in late afternoon. For a general comparison, the park is roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts. Taking the train up through the park was a great way to see much of the countryside. Today, stretching our legs, it was much more exciting to feel the soft earth underfoot. We wandered our way along the Horseshoe Lake Trail. The trail is short, but steep enough to allow for some awesome views. We had spent hours riding that train through the park, but we really didn't know the park until we stepped foot in it, until we saw the crystal blue lake, heard the silence of the mountains broken only by the passing birds and felt the cool breeze against our face. As part of the Sharing Knowledge Project, visitors to the Smithsonian Heritage Exhibit at the Anchorage Museum are greeted by a quote from lyaaka (Anders Apassingok, St. Lawrence Island Yupik) which reads:

"Esghallghilnguq,

(what you do not see)

Nagaqullghilnguq,

(do not hear)

Nanghiillghilnguq,

(do not experience)

Nalluksaghqaq."

(you will never really know)

Here, standing in this majestic place, the wisdom of the elders echo and resonate to our very core.

Alaskan Subdivision??

What words come to mind when you think of Alaska? Rural? Wild? Nature? How about growing subdivision near an upscale golf course? I traveled across the continent into the great unknown to find suburbia. My travels took me to visit friends who I had worked with years ago in New Hampshire. We had lived in a small town in the lakes region where they had a bustling sled dog kennel that I had several opportunities to dog sit for. There, the rule was "don't lock the doors - who knows where the keys are". They had a few dozen dogs who lived like kings on a large property with neighbors up the road a bit. Imagine my surprise to arrive to their new home in Alaska to find out that now we lock the doors and the neighbors are right next door. What a funny turn of events. So, my first official walk through Alaska was through a lovely neighborhood, with my husband and a tagalong - a neighbor's dog named Duke who was not about to be left behind.

August Adventures!

So I left behind the sweltering heat of Philadelphia in July and have traded it for some cool Alaskan air as I enter into August. These walks should be a whole new sort of adventure. Today was filled with a lot of traveling, though even the views from the side of the road have been pretty exceptional.