A Journey to the Last Frontier (Day 1)

WARNING: The pictures below do not do the actual scenery justice. I am also very much so not a photographer. End of warning.

For the longest time whenever somebody asked me what my three bucket list travel destinations were, I’ve always said Portugal, Alaska, and one other. The third tends to change on a weekly basis and just so happens to be Iceland at the moment. But I have had those first two on my radar for so long that in lieu of my birthday I decided I was finally going to do something about that. I don’t want to have this list of amazing places I want to see in my life only to keep saying maybe one day. So when the opportunity and time finally arrived, I found myself on a flight to the the Last Frontier aka Alaska.

One of the many plusses of living in Seattle is how close you are to Alaska. Ok, when I say close, it was still a 3.5 hour flight but there aren’t many other places in the lower 48 that you can get up to Anchorage, Alaska in that time. It makes for the perfect weekend getaway location. And this is so cheesy for me to say, but for some reason as I looked out my window and saw the mountains and lakes down below, America the Beautiful came through my head. I looked like the kids from The Sandlot as they watch the fireworks during that memorable 4th of July game. If this is what it looks like from 30,000 ft in the air, I was bouncing in my chair in anticipation thinking about what I was about to see these next few days.

After landing in Anchorage and making my way to my hotel I noticed five things. 1. It’s a very small downtown. Like 8 blocks by maybe 10. Easily walkable and doesn’t take a very long time to get from place to place. A few stoplights but mostly only stop signs. 2. It was 10 p.m. and it was incredibly sunny. You hear about the sun not setting in Alaska near the summer solstice but until you actually see it first hand, it’s something that just sounds sort of unreal. Black out curtains are a must. 3. This is no offense to the city of Anchorage just my personal opinion, but the city kind of looks like it was created when Alaska became a state, 1959, and hasn’t changed since. It gives off a very outdated vibe. I am not sure if this would be a different scene if the cruise lines were going, as that is a huge industry for the city, but it felt a little empty. 4. Masks are pretty much non existent. It was a little weird going from Seattle where masks are still common to where pretty much everywhere to Anchorage (or Alaska in general) where you could go an entire day and not see anyone wear one. 5. Similar to Seattle in a way, it gives off a very chill, low maintenance vibe. You could be at the nicest restaurant in town and there would be some people dress to the 9’s and there would be others who looked like they just came from the mountain. #Balance

In order to keep you all interested and not reading an actual novel at one time, I’m going to split up the posts into three days. Keep ya coming back for more. Stay tune for day 2 where I learned traveling by train is one of my new favorite forms of transportation.

Until Next Time, The Library Abroad