61º N 150º W and then some…

I have been back from Alaska for almost ten days now and I haven’t been able come up with some smart angle to describe my trip into the Arctic Circle. But then that is perhaps the exact effect that Alaska has on you. Not the proverbial ‘speechless’ description, but simply that Alaska is not fancy, it doesn’t try to be clever, and it doesn’t have illusions of grandeur. Alaska simply is. It is real, it doesn’t make excuses, it is raw and it is unforgiving. At the same time its pure beauty reaches in and touches you in a way that you can never forget.

I spent a week in various places, and in that time I came across very few people who were born and bred Alaskans. Every one of these Alaskan immigrants that I spoke to made an almost identical comment. The comment was one that I too uttered on more than one occasion in that week. The comment being, “Alaska is a place I always wanted to see!” They had all heeded the call and found some way to make a stay of varying lengths in America’s 49th state. Many of the guide books and biographies set in Alaska make a similar statement intimating that a little piece of Alaska stays with you when you leave. That little piece that stays with you, in my opinion, is a simple unadorned realism that transcends the superfluous nature of living in modern times.

But before I get ahead of myself and come across as a Zen touting tree hugger, let me explain my reason for heading north into the Arctic over Spring break, while all my colleagues headed south to the equator. As a young kid I saw an advert for J&B whiskey on television featuring the Aurora Borealis and a Polar Bear. I don’t recall the connection between the scenery and the whiskey, but I do know that those swirling, dancing lights left an impression on me. Witnessing the Northern Lights became one of the things that I had to do in my lifetime. And let me tell you it is so worth the time and money spent to get to Alaska. Nobody can actually describe what it is like actually witnessing the Aurora Borealis first hand, and I am not even going to try, save to say that for about two hours around midnight of March 17, 2008, I was oblivious to the -30 degree temperatures and was completely in awe of one of natures most incredible phenomenon. I have included some photos below that give you an idea of what I witnessed, but again they don’t even come close.

After that the rest of my trip was spent dog sledding, snowmobiling, flight-seeing and just simply ‘being’ in the raw beauty of Alaska. I toured around Fairbanks, popped in to see Father Christmas in North Pole (yes, it is an actual place, and no, he wasn’t home), strolled around downtown Anchorage and just for fun went snowmobiling again.