While most Missourians were celebrating the Show-Me State’s bicentennial last week, my wife and I were busy exploring the 49th state, Alaska, and celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.
Bethany’s twin sister Charla and her husband Doug, (the Matron of Honor and Best Man at our wedding), got hitched just six months before we tied the knot, so naturally we decided to celebrate our anniversaries together. The memories we made during our adventures in The Last Frontier will endure at least another 25 years.
Our first two days in Alaska were spent in and around the greater Anchorage area. Downtown Anchorage was an interesting mix of hip dining establishments, cheesy souvenir shops, and panhandlers on virtually every corner. The smell of marijuana smoke (recreational pot is legal in the state) mingled with the smell of fresh reindeer sausage being grilled at food carts throughout the city center while the sound of seaplanes constantly buzzed overhead.
Of course, it was the natural beauty beyond the city limits that we were really looking forward to exploring. Our main goal of the trip was to hike in the Alaskan wilderness as much as possible. I am happy to say that we accomplished that goal. We walked/hiked/climbed an average of nearly eight miles per day during our nine-day vacation.
Our forays into nature took us to glaciers, mountains, streams, bays, coves, and various trails from Seward to Denali. We threw snowballs in August, climbed 3500 feet in elevation to peer out over an ice field so immense that it feeds 40 individual glaciers, watched a bore tide appear out of nowhere, and saw salmon struggling against raging currents to reach their ancient breeding grounds.
Armed with canisters of bear spray, survival knives, and annoyingly-festive bear bells, we ventured into areas with freshly posted fliers warning of recent encounters with aggressive mama grizzly bears. However, the only bears we encountered were housed at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center where we also saw wolves, elk, reindeer, wood bison, black-tailed deer, musk ox, moose, porcupines, foxes, coyotes, owls, and eagles. We were a little disappointed that we never saw a bear in the wild, but also a bit relieved. We were lucky enough to see several moose on our hikes including a mother and calf, countless bald eagles, and two herds of Dall sheep.
We spent several days in and around the fishing town of Seward, Alaska, near Kenai Fjords National Park. Our six-hour trek up and down a mountain near Seward to reach the Harding Ice Field caused an excruciating flare up of the ITB tendonitis that ended my Marine Corps career 31 years ago. Descending the steep, uneven trail brought a level of pain to my knees that I had forgotten existed in the years since the condition forced me to drop out of boot camp. Nevertheless, the breathtaking view at the top was worth it.
Seward was also the site of our greatest folly in Alaska. As we drove to our AirBnB rental, Doug entered the name of our destination, Chalet of Seward, into our car’s navigation system. When we arrived, the friendly and gracious hostess welcomed us and gave us a tour of our temporary home as well as some tips for enjoying the area. We thanked Jen, who lived in the unit upstairs with her husband, and began to unpack. Bethany questioned the green exterior of the house when we first arrived, noting that it didn’t match the brown in the pictures. No one seemed to care. I questioned the fact that we were sleeping in the ground floor unit even though the listing mentioned we would be upstairs. Doug noted that the host was not expected to be there to meet us, and the code to unlock the front door was different than he said it would be. Char noticed that there were three bedrooms instead of two and that there was not a washer and dryer, which was one of the features she insisted upon having when searching for lodging. It was at that moment that Charla announced, “I don’t think we’re in the right place!” In fact, we were not. Not even close.
Beyond embarrassed, we apologized to Jen, who seemed genuinely sad to see us go. We hurriedly repacked our belongings, typed in the correct street address, and drove to the opposite side of town to the OTHER Chalet of Seward—laughing in hysterics the entire way.
We were finishing our dinner in a charming eatery in downtown Seward the next day when our waitress said, “I suppose you timed your meal so you could watch the parade.” We had no idea what she was talking about, and to our delight, she informed us that the town was throwing a welcome home parade for Seward’s own Lydia Jacoby who had just won an Olympic gold medal for swimming. It was a wonderful, small-town moment that brought tears of joy and pride to the people of Seward (and a few lucky visitors).
After saying goodbye to Seward, we stayed in a cozy cabin outside of Denali National Park for a few days, happy to have found the correct place on the first try. The quaint cabin had an outhouse, but thankfully it was decommissioned in favor of indoor plumbing well before our arrival. The park itself is over six million acres of unspoiled wilderness, and during our four or five hikes, we barely scratched the surface of the wonders the park has to offer. Clouds obscured our every effort to see Denali itself (formerly Mt. McKinley), the tallest mountain in North America, but even that couldn’t dampen our renewed spirits.
Alaska is the perfect place to go if you want to renew your spirit, or reaffirm your love for your spouse of 25 years. It’s been on my bucket list of destinations ever since the TV series “Northern Exposure” caused me to fall in love with the region decades ago.
If Alaska isn’t on your bucket list, it should be.
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