North to the Future

That’s the State motto for Alaska, and boy, was it ever up north!

Been back for a month now so this is a long overdue piece. It’s been in draft for ages because I wanted to do a good job of it, but then it just got put on the backburner and never came off. Typical of me I might add.

So, ok, ok, a few things about the well-known, but rarely visited place…

~ Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2M, or two cents per acre.

~ Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Yes, it really is part of the US!

~ Alaska is the United State's largest state and is over twice the size of Texas. Measuring from north to south the state is approximately 1,400 miles long and measuring from east to west it is 2,700 miles wide. At our usual highway speed of 110km/hour, it would take roughly 21 hours to drive from north to south, and 39 hours to drive from east to west. Singapore suddenly seems so close to KL!

~ The state's coastline extends over 6,600 miles. That’s slightly more than the distance between … oh, KL and Paris!

~ 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States are located in Alaska.

~ Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle. 29,000+ square miles or 5% of the State is covered by glaciers. There are a total of about 100,000 glaciers in all, and the Maslaspina Glacier at 850 sq miles is the largest. About one tenth the size of the state of Perak!

~ The record low temperature recorded in the state was -80 degrees Fahrenheit (which is only about –52 Celcius) at Prospect Creek Camp in 1971.

~ Barrow, 800 miles south of the North Pole, has the longest and shortest day. When the sun rises on May 10th, it doesn't set for nearly 3 months. When it sets on November 18th, Barrow residents do not see the sun again for nearly two months. The longest day in Anchorage is about 20 hours and the shortest is about 4.5 hours.

~ Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane.

~ Dog mushing is the official state sport. How cool is that?

~ The Alaskan state flag was designed by a then 13-year old boy from Cognac, Alaska

Alaska is indeed a beautiful place. Pristine lakes and rivers, snow-tipped mountains, glaciers spanning centuries … Neither words nor pictures can do justice to the beauty of this place. It is truly lovely. So, if nature in all it’s glory is what you take pleasure in, then pack your bags and head North to the Future I say!

For me, this trip wasn’t so much about the traveling. Seeing a new place was a big bonus, but it was really the chance to see my sister and her family again after all these years that took me along this journey half way across the globe. And to that end, I would have to say that I was extremely successful. Sparks didn’t fly between my big sis and me as they always seemed to in the past. Perhaps both of us have mellowed to a point where there is less chance of explosive shouting matches happening now (hopefully!). There were ‘moments’ when things probably could have gone either way of course, but we were good. Really! I recognized things about my sister that made me understand why we get along better with this distance between us. I saw the changes in myself and the parts of my character that lead to such heated fights in the past. And I think I finally understand. I finally understand that we are just different, and that it’s ok to get along better with great distance between us.

I got to know my nephews whom I haven’t seen in nearly 6 years. There is a sense of familiarity and closeness with them now that I didn’t have before and that is important to me. I can now walk around the mall and see things that I think they would like to have, or watch a movie and know that they would find it funny. I can eat food and remember it’s their favourite, or recall their mannerisms and characters and smile to myself about it. I can imagine them going through their days and activities, playing with their friends, mucking about the house, getting ready for bed…it’s all just so much more real, tangible, and for that I am blessed.

As with all my travels, there was also the element of self-discovery for me on this trip. I found out a few things about myself – uninteresting to everyone except me I think – so I shall not dwell on it, save to say that it made me happy to be able to recognize and articulate these parts of my character.

So overall it was a good break. I got back to work after that to many comments about seeming relaxed and compliments about looking good, and that made me smile inside to myself, which really … is always a good thing. :-)