Final thoughts on the last frontier
We’ve been back from Alaska for a week now, and I think I am done with my touristy posts, but here are a few final thoughts that didn’t fit in to those (somewhat) focused posts!
- Everyone enjoyed having the extra daylight (due to the very late sunset and very early sunrise) and it kept us energized to stay up later and do more. It was perfect for vacation! However, at any given moment you had no sense of what time it was (so we rarely ate at “normal” times). You’d think it was 3:00 pm and it was really 8:00 pm. Or the opposite. And we definitely hit an afternoon slump every day from staying up so late. It was nice, but odd. We probably would have become more used to it, if we stayed longer.
- And… staying up so late there has really affected me and Steven back home, three hours ahead in central time zone. We’re having a hell of a time getting back to a regular sleep schedule. We’ve been staying up way too late and having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Getting back to a regular work schedule this week will help… I hope!
- As is usually true on most vacations… it was nice to spend so much time walking! If only my daily life was like that. It definitely will never be, with where I live.
- A few people warned me the bugs would be horrible but they weren’t. Alyssa’s mom attributed this to the weather.
- The weather was AMAZING. It was never warmer than low 70s, and there was never high humidity or a high dew point. You could be comfortable most days in shorts or jeans, and short sleeves or a jacket. Perfect.
- I LOVE the outdoor culture there – the hiking and adventurous aspect of it. However, I would never fit in with the hunting/fishing/etc. portion of that outdoor culture. It was (understandably) very prominent there.
- I completely forgot about what was going on at work while I was there. Success! A family member brought work up and asked me about it, and I responded “I am on vacation and trying not to think about it… and truly can’t remember [what my projects are].” Hope it wasn’t rude, but eh, work’s not my life and it was nice to have a break from it! It’s not something I talk about with most people. I try NOT to talk about work, even when I am not on vacation.
- As I mentioned, I was sad to come home, and a lot of that was feeling like there was so much more we would have liked to do there. I am determined to get back some day!
- File this under “duh,” but some things (mostly food – at restaurants and grocery stores) were more expensive, because, duh, it costs more to get them there. It was actually a good thing I packed so many snacks after all, ha! I thought we got really good value for the things we did though (minus the aquarium in Seward, but those places are always expensive).
View of Eagle River from Mt Baldy
Themocracy
The sun staying up late is so weird! It was similar but not as extreme for us in Europe this year- I would have thought it was 5pm, but it was really 9 and still very light out. Made the return home a bit difficult to adjust to. That’s amazing you were able to completely unplug from work. True vacation! I’m so happy you had a great time- I’ve really enjoyed your photos and updates about the trip. Alaska is top on my list of places in the USA to visit!
It’s so odd! I would be so messed up if I lived somewhere where it was like that in the summer!
Thanks! I hope you get to go there!
The jetlag was really really awful coming back from Alaska for us too. It really messes with you! It took a couple weeks for me to get back to normal.
It was still my favourite place I’ve ever visited though. The hunting/fishing wasn’t so obvious for us, we stayed in the middle of Anchorage, but I imagine it would have been more noticable staying in a cabin. I still would love to spend a summer down there – did you end up on the coastal trail at all?
Ugh! While I am relieved to hear it’s not just me… I hope it doesn’t take me another week! Ha!
Did you notice all the fur shops/etc. in Anchorage? And all the meat on the menu? Ha!
Yeah, I rode the coastal trail with my dad and BiL 🙂
I hope you recover faster than I did! I think you travel more than I do, so it may be easier for you. I’ll cross my fingers for you!
I definitely noticed all the fur shops, but meat on the menu didn’t seem that different than anything out here when we go out. There were some exotics – caribou and such on the menu – but my husband found plenty of veg options.
Oh great! It’s such a beautiful trail. When I went it was rainy season so the trail just seemed so lush and green.
What a great pic of you two 🙂
I really want to visit there one day, I loved all you shared!
I knew stuff was pricey there and I always say that to my hubby, it would be hard to not be a meat eater there, just access to what we are used to is really different.
I am glad you had great weather! You know i am dying to feel some dry cool air right now lol
Thanks! I hope you get to go!
It wasn’t too hard to find non meat stuff to eat! I just… felt somewhat uncomfortable (mostly by the fur shops). I think it’s great that they actually eat what they hunt, and don’t just do it for sport.
Yay for being able to forget about work while you were on vacation! I have a hard time with that sometimes and it’s like magic when it happens 🙂
It was so awesome!!! I hope it happens again on my next short getaway!
I’ve never really had an intense desire to go to Alaska until you went and blogged about it, and now I want to go ASAP. (Well, I guess I’ve always kind of wanted to go, since I loathe heat and humidity, so Alaska seems like a good fit for me. But it’s never somewhere I *actually* considered going.) I cannot get over how beautiful it looks. I do think the daylight thing would be hard to live with, though. I’m sure you get used to it, but it seems like it’d be so confusing to live somewhere where it didn’t get dark until super late – or, during the winter, where it was barely light at all!
I think you would love it there. There were so many interesting flowers/plants and animals… I bet you could find some really cool tours to do! And the scenery is just stunning! I hope you can make it up!
It seemed like locals make the most of the long summer hours – we saw people fishing at 11:30 pm! Ha ha. But I wonder how they do in the winter? I actually read a really interesting article about how places with lower daylight hours in the winter compensate for that, without letting it depress them. I thought it was really interesting! http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/07/the-norwegian-town-where-the-sun-doesnt-rise/396746/
In my opinion, jet lag is harder when you lose time (i.e. when you travel east) versus when you gain time (traveling west). I once read about a research study where subjects functioned for X amount of weeks without clocks or any view of the outside. The idea was to see how people would function without external time-devices or signs guiding them. Sometimes they worked very long hours, sometimes they worked very short hours, and they slept all kinds of different hours. It was fascinating to hear how different we might operate without clocks or sunlight guidelines!
Oh, most definitely is! And I believe that article! I totally rely on where the sun is to lead me, and when it didn’t spend much time on the horizon it threw me off!
I’ve said that too, about vacations, that if I walked as much as I do there, I’d be in great shape. Really, I just need to move to Maui and test out that theory…
You have made me want to visit Alaska (and not just for the Starbucks mug, LOL). It looks really pretty and I love that the daylight hours aren’t blazing hot.
I think you should test out that theory and report back!
I hope you get to go there someday! It would be such a relief from your TX summer (if you went then)!
By the sounds of it, you’ve sold a lot of us on going to Alaska! They ought to hire you for their tourist office!
That would be awesome!!! Ha! That is my dream job – tour guide.
I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska, and hearing about your trip and seeing all of the pictures just makes me want to go all that more! Terry and I are trying to “save” it for one of the last of our 50 state adventures. We’ve also thought about flying to Seattle (or just living out that way someday!) and driving up. My brother knows a lot of people who have done the drive from California, and it’s just beautiful.
I agree on wanting to live someplace more walkable. That’s probably the biggest thing I miss from the city. Here, I can walk to CVS and that’s about it. It’s nice to be able to do that on vacation at least.
How far along are you on your 50 state quest? 🙂 I bet the drive up from Seattle is AMAZING! Ha, I brought our passports on this trip, in case I felt the need to rent a car and drive home. 😉
Sigh, yeah. It’s nice to live in a neighborhood with sidewalks but… you can’t really walk any of your errands! Well, I could if I lived at your place since I used to get my haircut at the place byt Subway. Ha!
I’ve always wanted to see Alaska, and your posts have definitely solidified that for me. I REALLY REALLY want to go to Alaska now..!! 🙂 🙂
Yay! I hope you can go!!!
Sounds like you had such a great experience there!
We just saw a few friends who spent 2 weeks in Alaska, and I think that seems to be cool about visiting ‘the frontier’ is that it really exposes you to a different lifestyle, even if you are *just* a tourist and it provokes reflection on your own life. That, at least, has been other people’s reaction too. It’s definitely on our ‘bucket list’, but the question is still in that if/when stage!
I’m so glad you were able to forget about work while you were on this really fun and interesting vacation/trip. I don’t think your response is rude–I might use it when I’m on vacation too because, like, is anyone really ever that interested in your job? I feel like job-related conversation is often just a formality, and maybe we can talk about more interesting things.
I was just listening to a fiber podcast, and the interviewee lives in Alaska. She was saying that the homesteading skills are pretty strong there, like a lot of people build their own cabins, and many of them don’t even have running water. Did you find that to be the case?
Yeah, I definitely felt like that was a “I don’t know what to talk about so I’ll ask you about work thing.” Blah. Although, I actually really liked hearing about what you do! But you can always tell me to STFU if you don’t want to talk about it.
We didn’t get to the parts of AK that are like that but I have heard time and time again that many homes are that way! Interesting, right?!