I hate to admit it, but I’ve been going through some sunny vacation withdrawal. However, it has caused me to take a deeper dive into why I choose to live in Alaska, why I love and am proud to be an Alaskan.
In Alaska you have to fight and work for what you have. Nothing is fed to you on a silver platter. Alaska makes strong kids, and stronger parents.
You have to scrape ice off your windshield, shovel feet of snow, warm your car up 15 minutes ahead of time, and blow on little ones hands or freeze your own armpits to warm them. To reap the gem of various meat harvest bounty you have to brave impossible terrain, know how to field dress, pack heavy quarters over mountains and ravines, then wash, clean, cut, grind, and package. The bounty of the rivers, lakes and seas require knowing what, how, when, and where, working a net or hook for long hours, and equally as much time cleaning, hauling, processing, smoking and cooking. To forage you must research and experiment in gathering mushroom, berry, chaga, birch sap, fireweed, fiddlehead ferns, sea lettuce and much more. If you’re brave you can harvest roe, clam, oyster, and scallops. You can learn to trap and tan otter, mink, martin, fisher, beaver, wolf, wolverine, coyote, lynx, arctic fox and rabbit.
If you want to stay fit you will either spend countless hours in a gym or brave ice, snow, wind, sleet, rain, and darkness to run, hike, ski, snow shoe, fat bike, snowboard, snow machine, ice skate and sled!
As a mother of young children you will be challenged with long dark winters of kids pent up inside- pushing you to creative outlets such as headlamp tag, blanket forts, rearranging furniture, play dates, dance parties, swimming, any and all community activities available…( I shouldn’t even try to begin this list) all while harnessing and bolstering your own seasonal discouragement. Oh and you better get good at planning ahead, depending on where you live, if the barge breaks down the grocery store will be out, and your Amazon order is running 6 weeks late…
You may have to brave the dangers of frostbite, wolves, bears, devil’s club, 12 ft seas, hypothermic waters, thin ice, avalanches, landfalls, ATV-swallowing mud holes, high winds, 20 to 50 below 0 temperatures, erratic weather, deadly crevasses, icy roadways and extreme tidal changes. If you want danger- Alaska is the place to be.
In Alaska I’ve found you have to be intentional with friendship. With the tendency to hibernate within your own four walls, if you don’t initiate and seek out social engagement the seclusion can be soul crushing.
I’ve experienced the challenges of life in remote or urban third world countries of Haiti, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Philippines. But Alaska is just a whole other level.
But– with these challenges, you also get the freedom to walk wherever the dang you want on open mountains, likely without another soul in sight, and (hopefully) put a trophy on your wall. You get to see open roads instead of rows of traffic jams (mostly, except for Parks hwy and the commute to Anchorage…). You get to enjoy all four seasons in beautiful exchanges- actually five including “dark winter” and “light winter” :) You get to relish in the most gorgeous blue sky days with crisp, clean air, aroma’s of the season and calendar-worthy landscapes. You get to live in a tourist destination and show off the impressiveness of your state to enthusiastic visitors. And in Alaska you can develop real friends who will drop what they're doing to help you, because they’ve been through the same challenges as you and they get it.
Yes, I choose to live here. Alaska has made me stronger, wiser, and more resilient. Besides, if not here, where else would I be?
(But I’ll still look forward to my next hot climate winter vacation ;)
