After a sustained three months of madness and abused endurance, we are finally (mostly) settled in Fairbanks, AK. I am reminded of our extraordinary setting every morning as I head away from the Ray Mountains, push up the steep incline of the bike path to join up with the Johansen Freeway as it passes over the train depot, and look to see if I can spot the Alaska Range. On a clear day, I can see Denali. And that’s a good omen for us all.
I’m not sure where to begin. The excitement and rush around the job posting, interview, and offer negotiation? The six day drive up through Canada to the Alaska Highway and on to Fairbanks? The blow out about three hours into the trip? Or getting settled in with our boxes and boxes of stuff (no outright breakage but plenty of ding-n-dent)? As I said, hard to know.
Right now, the girl’s asleep, Dana’s knitting, and I’m thinking about near-arctic living.
Near arctic? Yes. So an all-wheel-drive car with complete winterizing kit (sure, a block heater, but also a battery heater, and advice to get a thermal-rated extension cord). Long thinking jags about over-mittens and snowshoes, about uninsulated storage and about snow up to my shoulder.
And near to the end of the world. All the big department stores (and many others) around here do bush flight deliveries. Tourists zoom by packed in cruiser-weight buses from one scenic drive to the other. I’d guess they’re doing a loop from, say, Homer along the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains, across the eastern edge or the Alaska range, up to Fairbanks, and then back down through the Alaska range, past Denali, and down to Anchorage. I assume they’re hoping to see caribou (done it), moose (seen many), bison (somehow larger and shaggier up here), bears (yes to both black and grizzly), and other charismatic fauna.
I’ll be honest: I don’t blame them.
There’s more to say, of course, but I’ll end this brief post with a note about something that surprised me: smell. The air smells different. Almost like incense. More balsam than pine, more dry than the leaf mold smell of eastern forests. Definitely worth the drive.
Ah, and I missed something when I drove up here: I had an interview on NewPages.com. Go read it!
This all sounds like you're in for an exciting adventure!
Posted by: jo(e) | July 27, 2011 at 03:02 PM
Am I allowed to say that I'm jealous? I'm reading McPhee's Coming into the Country right now, so there's lots of Alaska on the brain. We miss you in Lincoln, but I'm excited for your new adventure!
Posted by: Karen | July 28, 2011 at 08:56 AM