Life in Alaska

I can't even remember when my fascination with Alaska began. Maybe it was about the time, at 12 years old, that I decided my life's ambition was to be a hermit.

Yes, really.

In my mind's eye I can still see those photos I created of life on an isolated sea coast. That was before I discovered MOUNTAINS. Big Bear. Lake Arrowhead. Idyllwild. Everytime I visited one of those places, I felt my heart melt, my muscles relax, my mind ease. Way back when, I knew that my future had to involve MOUNTAINS.

I read about high places, and I dreamed. Everest. Nepal. The Himalayas. K2. Annapurna. And Alaska.

Watching Northern Exposure whetted my appetite. How I wish those television episodes were still available for viewing now that I've seen the region for myself.

***

The above was the beginning of a very long introspective blogpost which was supposed to focus on the folks who spoke on Life in Alaska during our Road Scholar program.

You're lucky I changed my mind, deleted the rest of what I'd written and cut out the retrospective.

Suffice it to say that we were blessed to have the company of Bill and May Smith, who accompanied us every step of the way during our adventure.

May is a lifelong Alaskan, originally from Unalakleet, a native village on Norton Sound. If you, like me, ever watch Flying Wild Alaska, you've heard of it. It's the home of the Twetos. And the Twetos just happen to be May's relatives. Just a little name-dropping here.

Bill is an Outsider, but he's been in Alaska so long he might as well be Alaska-born.

They now live in a smallish town just to the north of Anchorage, where May taught for many years until her recent retirement.

During our program, we had the opportunity to ask Bill and May what it was like to live in Alaska, and they regaled us with stories of their lives here. If we had questions, they answered them, probably ad nauseum to them. They shared samples of homemade smoked salmon with us and showed photos of their getaway on the Kenai peninsula where they go to fish each year.

As I listened to the Alaskans tell us about their life in the Great Land, I thought about my earlier desires to move there, obviously unrealized. If I'd been younger, if I hadn't just bought a house, if I didn't have the blessing of living close enough to my daughters, son-in-law and grandson to see them often, I knew I could have lived, no, thrived, in Alaska. The move is not to be.

As if I needed any reminders, Bill and May (as well as Kimber and Mollie) brought home the connection group leaders make between Road Scholar participants and the program's management. They truly are the glue that holds each program together. They provide the backbone and the framework to the program and keep everything moving smoothly. They are the ones who make programs look like they run like clockwork.

In particular Bill and May went out of their way to provide support and very practical assistance to just about every member of our group. On the last day of our program, they offered us a great adventure that perfectly capped off our time together in Anchorage.

Yes, you'll have to wait to hear about it.