Bekah
RebekahJL Joined: January 23rd 2006
Logged in: December 1st 2011
Logged in: December 1st 2011
Why Alaska? Maybe because it is the Last Frontier, the state least touched by man. Possibly it is because of my over all curiosity and unexplained desire to explore this unique place. Perhaps it was simply due time for another drastic change or maybe I needed to distance myself from the person I was so I could rediscover who I am on my own. There are many possibilities.
For those of you who followed my trips throughout Southeast Asia, these blogs may show a different picture. As I write about my experiences I hope my blogs offer some insight into what Alaska is like, what challenges people face, and most importantly, a new appreciation for the natural struggles we are meant to face.
Travel Blog Posts
Musea Del Doumo
On the morning of the 20th, I met my sister Jennifer at the Frankfurt Airport. Jennifer just graduated from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and will be spending a year in Koln (pronounced Cologne), Germany as an au pair for a family. She agreed to come a few weeks early to travel with me to Italy. We checked our bags and were on our way to Milan. Our first stop was Milan, the fashion capitol of Italy. We took a public bus, X73, straight to the city center. The information online all said to avoid taking a cab at all costs, which we were totally ok with. It only cost 2 Euros each way for the 20-30 minute bus ride. The center of the city is the main shopping district. Name brand stores from around the ... read more
Wooden Shoes
It is summer in Amsterdam-- for the first time all year I am told. I arrived at the Central Station in the afternoon. Since I had yet to acquire a map of the city, I stopped in the Tourist Information Center which is conveniently located outside of the station. Here you could buy and Amsterdam Lonely Planet guide for 19 Euros (about $25) and pay 50 Euro cents to use the bathroom. I quickly fled the area finding Café Versailles, a Cafe with Internet and amazing pannekoeken (Dutch Pancakes). Checking online I found that my friend Sara, was able to get off work. Sara and I met while studying at Yonsie University in South Korea. We had always talked about visiting each other and low and behold 5 years later it happens. I had a few ... read more
Dark Hefeweizen
The next few nights I was Couch Surfing! Couchsurfing.org is an online network for travelers to connect with other travelers in countries around the globe. Here individuals offer to host travelers on their couch or a night or two at no charge. It is a great way to meet local people when you travel and also as a host, it is a fun opportunity to meet with people from other countries. I had once hosted an Australian musician on my couch, but this is my first time staying on someone else’s couch. After spending a night in the 5 Elements Hostel, I set out to meet Solveig who I had been in contact with on Couch Surfing. We had planned to meet a “Small Tower” outside of Bockenheimer Warte, which is a station near her house. ... read more
Locks and Skyline
On Saturday I took the 9-hour, direct Condor flight from Anchorage to Frankfurt. The flight was long, but I brought a book, a newspaper and a magazine to keep me company. None of this came anywhere close to being as interesting as my neighbor Sam, from London. He and about 10 other friends purchased an old Navy bus off of ebay for $2,000 and spent the last 6 weeks driving it from New York City to Nashville, New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, California, up through Canada and on to Anchorage, stopping everywhere in between. He shared his pictures from the adventure and had fabulous stories. he definitely got me motivated for the journey and the unknown adventures ahead. Once I arrived in Frankfurt, I took the S-Bhan (commuter train) from the airport to the Houptbahnhof (Main ... read more
Gull Island
HOMER After work on Thursday, Jhene and I packed up the car with our camping gear and bikes and headed down to Homer. Anchorage was beautiful and sunny and would be all weekend. The forecast for Homer: Rain. We headed towards the dark clouds to the south. A 4-hour drive down and the Paper Towel Incident A few miles after Beluga point we had to swerve into the other lane to dodge a large object in our lane. A Costco size package of paper towels? I looked over to the passenger seat. “Let’s get ‘em!” I said. Jhene’s eyes widened with excitement as we pulled into the nearest pull out an made a Uy. We grabbed the suckers and shoved on the bikes in the back. As we closed the doors an Aerostar van with ... read more
A "stream'
In early June I had the opportunity to do a several day canoe trip with a few guys from an adventure group that I am a part of. No worries, it is nothing like last years death trek, in fact this trip was quit relaxing. We set in at Tanaina Lake right off of the Nancy Lake Parkway about an hour north of Wasilla. We backpacked in with our gear and canoes and set off. As for wild life we saw plenty of loons, eagles and of course the state birds were out (misquotes). Mark, Ted and Ryan were great canoeing buddies. It was very peaceful venturing out with people I had never met before. In a sense it was as peaceful as going alone. There were no distractions of outside responsibilities and dwelling on past ... read more
Photo 21
The winter in Alaska can be brutal, but that does not stop the outdoor lovers from seeking adventure. While Caitlin visited for the winter holiday we decided to do a short overnight backpacking trip out to a Mongolian Yurt in the Eagle River Nature Center. We started our adventure on skis. This was short lived as it had not snowed in over 2 weeks and the ground was practically ice. We figured that this may be a little too much for Caitlin’s second time on a pair of skis as she admitted to almost falling 3 times in 5 seconds with a 30lb pack in 10 degree weather. I am not the best on classic skis and almost bit it on the first icy hill myself. After about 5 minutes of this, we turned around and ... read more
First Bend
We had an amazing summer this year and I was not ready to admit that fall was on its way (or more accurately had actually arrived). There were a few trips I still had on my list for the summer and the bike ride from Anchorage to Girdwood and back was at the top of that list. Easily enough I convinced my Tour De Beer Partner, Chad, to join me on a fine Friday afternoon post work. The Seward Highway, especially on the Turnagain arm is probably on someone’s list of most scenic routes in the world. The road curves along the Chugach National Park and Mountain Range on the left, while the right side of the road opens up into the calm Turnagain Arm. Across this enormous body of continuous moving water is another large ... read more
Jodi
For the Labor Day weekend I was invited to go on a 3-day backpacking/canoeing trip with one of my hiking buddies from last summer. The trip included a series of 10 lakes, a “difficult passage,” and a 22-mile river. My eagerness for outdoor adventure is at its max. Fall is beginning to show her colors in sheets of red draping down the mountainsides and through the puffs of fluttering feathers on the tips of fireweed. I am not ready for winter and have all intentions of spending as much free time exploring new corners of Alaska. Needless to say I jumped at this opportunity. We left Saturday morning with two cars and two canoes an made the 3 1/2 hour drive down the Kenai Peninsula and up to the Swanson River Campground. On the way we ... read more
Drying fish
In the third week of June, I made my first site visit to Napakiak (nuh-PAH-key-ack). Napakiak is a rural ALaskan community located in the Western region of Alaska along the Kuskokwim River. I first flew in to Bethel, which is a hub only about 15 miles northeast of the community. I took a small Cessna 207 that was packed full with 3 passengers, the pilot, all of our gear, and what looked like about a week’s worth of mail and packages. The plane ride over was a short 10 minutes, and we passed over the lagoon and marsh-like landscape, well below the clouds. Napakiak is a second class city, made up of about 356 people. It has a post office, two general stores, a fire department, a school, a clinic and organized tribal and city governments. ... read more
