Fi'ty States

Denali

I set foot in my fiftieth state several weeks ago. That goes with one territory and my hometown, the 51st state in all but political clout and self-rule...

Alaska was amazing. Ironically, but logically, it made me want to spend more time hiking in Canada. Since I finally got a passport, and it's not that far away.

We took a cruise on a smaller ship to take the GF's mother on a big birthday trip, as her choice. It was as strange as I thought it would be, but an interesting look at the whole phenomenon and a way to see some places I otherwise would not have just hiking or traveling cheap.

We ended up in Seward and took a bus to Denali National Park, where we spent two days, then took a touristy train with glass bubble top to Anchorage to fly.home. More on the trip later.

I spent the trip and since reading about the natural history and native peoples of Alaska and the Arctic, topics I know very little about. The Nathan Active cop mystery series by Stan Jones was the lightest fare, but has lots of animal lore and descriptions of travel, survival, flying, hunting and tracking in a remote area.

Our Ice is Vanishing: Sikvut Nunguliqtuq: A History of Inuit, Newcomers, and Climate Change is obviously heavier, but is interesting because it goes in depth into many topics but skips around eclectically.

I have John McPhee's Coming Into The Country on my list but have not gotten to it yet.  I may have read it before, as I read a slew of his books in the 90s, but I think not. He's interesting but it's dated. Though I'm very curious about the roots of Palinism and the whole dependency-hatred relationship to gummint AK shares with other petroleum-based and harsh climate states, after being there seeing and talking to a range of locals.

Chasing Alaska: A Portrait Of The Last Frontier by C.B. Bernard was what I mostly read whle in Alaska. It was somewhat rambling but also had a lot of random interesting history. He moved to Alaska in 1999 and later found out his grandfather had lived there on a boat and kept a diary.

The pitch sounded cheesy but the style is subdued and the stories of harsh winters, boat wrecks, and the native survival strategies and patterns of life made my visit, cruise and all, feel more informed and embedded (even if it wasn't.)

Anyway...

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