(Hopefully) Heading Home Again
I don't mean where I live now or where I grew up. Those are pretty much the same place if you're not picky about GPS coordinates and the like. I mean heading back to the place I actually get homesick for: Alaska.
It does seem weird that a kid who's spent his entire life in Georgia would consider Alaska his home, but I do. I got obsessed with it as a kid when I was looking through an atlas trying to find which state had the fewest people per square mile. I found Montana and thought the six people per square mile was kind of cool, but then I saw Alaska's one person per square mile. (I tend to flip through books and magazines from back to front unless I'm seriously reading. Deal with it). I even talked K into going to Alaska for our honeymoon. I think even she'll admit it was a cool trip. We went back a couple of years ago with my parents and rented an RV and wandered from north of Fairbanks to the Kenai Peninsula, and quite frankly, I've never seen a prettier place in my life.
The facts are: I love mountains. I hate warm weather. I love being in the middle of nowhere (as long as I am within a day trip of somewhere that most definitely isn't the middle of nowhere. I've actually enjoyed being in blizzards the two times I've experienced that in Cleveland (over 3 feet in 24 hours) and Colorado (right at 3 feet in 12 hours).
Now, where I currently live the average summer temperatures are in the 90s with extremely high humidity and the fire ants are still on the move this late in December. It was in the high 70s yesterday. A cold front came through today, but it's still warm enough that I don't need a jacket. There are no mountains within 100 miles of my house. There's not even a hill within 60 miles unless you count rolling terrain as hilly and then it's 15 miles or so. It just doesn't snow this far south.
So why am I still here? Because I grew up here and I didn't find a way out before I got out of college and got married. K (understandably) doesn't share my enthusiasm for moving to a place that would require a $1,000 to visit her parents and you have to install a block heater to plug your car up so the engine won't freeze up on you in the winter.
Instead of moving there, I've taken the methadone of visiting as often as I can. It still leaves me with a broken heart the other 99% of my existence, but for those weeks I've spent there, I've been happy. The next visit I'm hoping for is this summer. Some beer geek friends and I are talking about possibly flying up there (or to the coast of British Columbia, which is far enough north and beautiful enough to sake my longing) and having a week of salmon fishing and beer geekery. Alaska has a seriously disproportionate number of good craft breweries for their small size (they have about the same number of breweries and brewpubs as Georgia, but only about a quarter of the population of Metro Atlanta.) Besides, salmon is just tasty. I couldn't imagine a better week than sitting around a camp fire with a slab of salmon freshly caught that day washed down with something nice from Midnight Sun, Sleeping Lady or Moose's Tooth.
The good news is that K doesn't seem to be too upset with the idea of me heading out for this. The bad news is that I now have to save up for a trip that's going to run between $500 and $600 just to get there and back by jet. That and the fact, K and I are camping up the coast to Maine this coming summer and I have to make sure that we can afford both my camping trip and the Maine trip. I'm not about to make K sacrifice her vacation just so I can go gallivanting off to satisfy my need for wandering. I have decided to give up my planned beer tour of Florida during the week after Christmas and earmark the funds I would have used for that for the Alaska trip. Still, I was going to get paid in part of the Florida trip from articles that would come from it for Southern Brew News, so that's less money than it sounds like. Maybe I should just get a second job to pay for regular visits up that way.
6 comments:
I want to go to Alaska! And camp up the coast to Maine! Can I come?
When I was around 15 I had an old National Geographic world atlas and I wanted to find the least populated place on the continent and move there. The index showed a place in British Columbia called Old Barkerville, population 1. That was going to be it for me but, not surprisingly, it has disappeared from subsequent publications. In my mind, though, there's still such a place in the mountains of B.C. if I ever need it.
Sounds fun! I wish I could travel A LOT more than I do, if Chris and Sadie can come, too, of course. We are thinking of taking a road trip out West, either this year or next... anyone want to come? We're talking seeing tons of things along the way, camping, finally seeing Colorado! Talk about blog material!
Jacob, if you do go to Alaska, you need to keep a blog journal and tell us everything!
Courtney: If you pay your own way, you're more than welcome. It'd actually make the Alaska trip cheaper for me and the Maine trip cheaper for me and Kim because we could split a lot of the stuff like lodging/camping costs and car rental (in Alaska). I don't really see you as much of a moocher, so that was really an uneccesary discalimer to start off.
Mickey: Why does it not surprise me that you're the other person who's done that same thing with an atlas?
Meaghan: The Alaska trip would likely be a series of posts upon return. I don't see me having regular internet access during a bulk of the trip. I could be wrong though. The Maine trip would be different. There's not a whole lot of wilderness on that trip so there'd always be a wi-fi hotspot on every day's travel. Too bad my sister is moving back to Georgia (the loser). I could have hooked you and Chris up with her as a local guide for Colorado. She's lived there for the past two years.
And if you plan the Colorado trip for the year after next, Kim and I'd tag along. I'm not sure I'll even squeeze Alaska and Maine in this year. There's no way I'm fitting that in too.
Yeah, we're thinking of maybe hitting the beach this year at some point and then maybe going out West the year after. I know the beach doesn't sound fun to you, but to an old Florida resident, it's a must!
I have to agree with you Jacob. Alaska is beautiful. I spent three weeks bumming around with my parents when I was in high school. I spent 35 rolls of film and thought I was being conservative. And I've never eaten better in my life. Halibut, king crab, salmon, Oh my. I'm itching to go somewhere new, though. But I can understand it. I'll cross my fingers and hope that you make it.
Post a Comment