I can remember sitting on a plane eight months ago, leaving the Anchorage airport and thinking I would never visit Alaska again. It had been a once in a lifetime trip and I couldn't imagine what reason, how or when I would possibly return. I keep forgetting how unpredictable life is. So here I am, 5,000 miles from home back in the state of Alaska. While Alaska gets a bum rap for being dark and cold much of the year, that has not been the case either time I have visited. Today it's in the 60s, the sky is clear and the sun is out for 15 hours a day. This is both warmer weather and more sun than my home state of Connecticut. This small loop became my daily routine while on this visit. The rural stereotype of Alaska is not the case in this area of Wasilla, countless cars zoom by and every inch of land is crammed with houses in this all-american subdivision. Nothing about this walk is meditative, that is until you look up. Settlers Bay is one of the many communities that sits in this mountain basin, with its ring of majestic towers high above goes on as far as the eye can see. They serve as a silent reminder of how very far from home I am and how futile the idea of the "foreseeable future" actually is .
