EPT-I take my first step onto Alaskan soil (gravel), look up, and see a motherfucking bald eagle with its wings spread majestically, soaring through the sky.
-5 minutes later I see Denali (Mt. McKinley), North America's highest prominence. This is the first and last time, as ill positioning and weather shroud it for the rest of the coming fortnight.
-I take a boat trip from Seward and see: a solitary sea otter, tons and tons of sea lions, a few seals, a bunch of killer whales, tons and tons of cormorants and puffins. Also witness glacier calving.
-We visit Homer. I stuff myself with sweet baked goods. There's a ship graveyard on the spit. Tons of small ships just reposing on dry land. A bald eagle watches impassively from a high lamppost as a throng of gulls have some weird orgy near the beach.
-Denali National Park. We come with airplane luggage and all sorts of fancy cookable foods and luxuries, while everyone else just has a big fucking backpack plus the wherewithal to hike freeform in the wilderness. I am reminded of Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men.
-I see at least 3 gargantuan bull moose, 7 grizzly bears, tons of Ptarmigan, and tons of caribou. One grizzly bear I encounter within 100 yards on a trail and I am promptly scared shitless. The grizzlies seem to go about their business not giving a single fuck about humans though.
-Drive a circuit through Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Glennallen, and back to Palmer. Lots of fancy scenery plus warm beds and restaurant food which are much appreciated after 3 days of camping in rainy, cold alpine wilderness.
-See a couple of trumpeter swans on a lake off Glenn Highway.
-We stay at a comfy bed and breakfast. We drop my mother and sister off at the airport, and indulge in fried eggs and sausage. We never get around to turning on the heating so nights there are pretty cold.
-Independence Mine. Quite a trip back in time with plenty of rusted, ruined mining appliances. Seeing an old mine entrance felt pretty harrowing; made me imagine the full atmosphere of mines in games (like Nashkel Mines and such). Broken mine cart train tracks suspended on crumbling wooden superstructure were pretty cool.
-Great Alaskan highway tour Round 2. First morning we drive back up to Denali, but Parks Highway + tons of rain resulted in pretty boring times. In the afternoon the sun begins piercing through and we see rainbows. Tons of rainbows. At least 3 instances of double rainbow. Somehow manage to get to Delta Junction by nightfall.
-More scenery on Richardson as we drive south towards Valdez. A roadside river has a resident bald eagle perched on a nearby tree. It accepts photos for a while before spreading its huge wings and departing.
-More sun and rain medley offers us a glimpse of a triple rainbow. Legendary.
-3000 ft above sea level and we drive through a motherfucking cloud for like 30 minutes. Epic.
-Getting closer to Valdez and we pass through Keystone Canyon. It's a winding rainforest canyon full of glacial streams and waterfalls. So many waterfalls. Feels like world of the dinosaurs right here. Holy shit.
-Right outside Valdez and heavy rains cause flooding that spills over the highway for hundreds of feet. We decide not to risk getting flood-owned and turn back.
-With no hotel reservation and nightfall rapidly closing we decide to just turn into some random RV park and sleep in the car. Turns out the park is abandoned and for sale, not a human is in sight, no other vehicles arrive in the night, the premises are full of abandoned trailers, RVs, and ATVs as well as a boarded up wooden shack, and the only living thing is a thankfully docile black dog.
-Make the drive back to Anchorage. Western Glenn highway is full of fog bank. Vehicles emerging from the fog seem eerie. I consider the effects of the MtG card and wonder whether they are a good translation of real life fog banks.
-Hike Bodenburg Butte. These shoes are too tight and I am way too out of shape.
-Alaska Museum, cheap Pho, and a flight back to D.C.
TL;DR: Bald eagles, Denali, sea otters, sea lions, seals, killer whales, cormorants, puffins, moose, grizzly bears, ptarmigan, caribou, trumpeter swans, abandoned mines, double rainbows, triple rainbows, driving through clouds, canyons full of waterfalls, floods, fog banks, abandoned RV parks, and generally being out of shape.
