ALASKA – Glaciers, Moose & Sunshine

Before I knew about my placement in Oregon, my biggest fear was going to Alaska for a year. There was nothing appealing to me about Alaska. I am a summer kid and I like to have urban life around me. So I thought Alaska and I wouldn’t be a good match. Then I found out I was going to Oregon and only heard that two guys of the program were sent to America’s most northern and western state. I was relieved and felt sorry for the boys. But to be honest that was the last time I thought about Alaska; until May 6^th 2015.

I was at work when I received a message from another CBYX participant that I only knew from the seminar in New York in the beginning of the program year. I was certainly surprised reading his message: ‘Hey, do you want to go to Alaska in the middle of June?’

First thought: ‘What the heck?! No!’
Second thought: ‘Well, Alaska… That’s exotic. It’s not too far away from here. Who knows if I will ever get the chance to go again? It could be an adventure!’
And let’s be honest, it doesn’t take a lot to convince me to travel somewhere and so I changed my mind quickly.
I wrote back: ‘Sure, let’s do it!’

One barrier between me and Alaska was asking my boss for days off at work. Here it becomes very handy to work in the travel industry – you could almost call it a business trip. I can only be successful in what I am doing if I go places to give recommendations. Fortunately my boss saw it the same way and told me to grab the opportunity and go.

On May 8^th, so only 2 days after I received the initial message, my flight was booked. I was going to Alaska for 6 days! I think I didn’t quite realize it but everyone that I told about it was probably even more excited than I was at that point. Besides the flights we didn’t plan too much and figured that everything would work out anyways. We only reserved a car and talked to the two boys who are placed in Alaska. They kindly offered us to stay with them and show us around their new homes.

Wednesday, June 17^th I went straight from work to Portland Airport. Since it was rush hour and it would have been too busy by car, I took the adventure of taking public transportation. Even though the system here in Portland is amazing compared to many other cities in the USA, I never used it a lot since I always had my car. The bus was 3 minutes late – not a big deal and something you expect if you are from Berlin – but this bus driver apologized for being SO late!!! I couldn’t believe that he apologized for being 3 minutes late. He was so nice and I only thought about the grumpy bus drivers in Berlin. I took the bus downtown, hopped into the tram which took me straight to the airport. After a good 1 ½ hours I made it to PDX.

That’s always the right direction!

I boarded my first plane to Seattle at 8 pm. The flight was scheduled to take 50 minutes. Though the pilot announced that it would be a very quick trip today and he was right. From take off to touch down it was only 26 minutes! It certainly was one of the shortest flights ever.

My happy place!

No blog post without Mount Hood! 🙂

Believe it or not – this is DOWNTOWN Portland. I know, it doesn’t look like it at all

I only had an hour to change planes but Seattle Airport is so organized that I didn’t face any problems. At the gate in Seattle I met my travel buddy for the upcoming week, Mathias. It was a bit like back in August on my homestay tour when I didn’t really know my travel companion either but it worked out back then, so I thought it will also this time (and it did!). Mathias is from Munich and spent his year in a small town in Illinois.

Three hours later we exchanged night time in Seattle for daylight in Anchorage at 12:30 am! It was one hour earlier in Alaska and we also flew straight up north where summer nights are endless. It was surreal and my body and mind certainly confused. I have been to Scandinavia in summer before, so I have experienced days without darkness, but it was still so unbelievable. When we landed, the sun just set and since sunrise was only a couple of hours later again, it didn’t get dark.

First glimpse of Alaska!

Anchorage (Note for Delta Airlines: The windows were so dirty it was impossible to take good pictures)

Although it seemed to be a lot earlier, it was almost 2 am after getting our rental car, a Chevrolet Sonic, and checking in to our very simple hostel in downtown Anchorage. Since it is high season in Alaska at the moment, prices are horrendously high for accommodations. Luckily we only needed that one night and stayed the others with the CBYX fellows.

The first night was short and a bit uncomfortable – but we were excited to hit the road and see Alaska. Everyone recommended me not to spend any more time than necessary in Anchorage. It is Alaska’s biggest city with 300.000 residents which makes 40 % of the Alaskan population! Although it is the economic and cultural center of Alaska – though not the state’s capital; that’s Juneau – there is not much to see and do. That’s why we decided to go straight from Anchorage to Valdez. The trip is 300 miles long which took us six hours over Alaska’s major highway 1. On that trip we could only get a rough idea how enormously huge this state is. It is by far the biggest state of the US and just to get an idea; the landmass of Germany fits five times into Alaska!!! Although we stayed in the most populated area of Alaska the whole time, we could see how empty and sparsely populated it is. The 2 German guys told us though that this time of the year it is busy and crowded with tourists compared to the winter months. I can’t imagine what it was like.

Since we didn’t have any pressure to be in Valdez at a certain time, we could take as many photo stops as we liked (a lot) and let the beautiful landscape sink in. On the map it said that there were several small towns along the way. From my point of view I wouldn’t even call them villages, maybe a small settlement. There was really not too much besides stunning nature: mountains, glaciers, rivers, valleys, forests and waterfalls. It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and up to 80 degrees. I didn’t even know that this was possible in Alaska.

Anchorage to Valdez

Matanuska River

Other way of Matanuska River

My car and my driver

Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the glacier anymore

Mathias and myself

Snow capped mountains

Behind every curve was a new glacier – stunning!

Queen of the road

Bridal Veil Waterfalls – see the rainbow?

Selfie in the sun 🙂

In the late afternoon we arrived in Valdez after this scenic and breathtaking drive. To me Valdez is a small town but in Alaskan relations, it is one of the bigger ones. It is located at a fjord of the Prince William Sound which is part of the Gulf of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean. Valdez has 4,000 residents and since August 2014 one more: Jonas from Germany. I already met Jonas at the preparation camp in Germany and was excited hearing what he has been up to the last 10 months. He studied at the local college with only 50 other students and shares a dorm room with John, a student from Florida.

Both Jonas and John gave us a very warm welcome and after the long car ride, a small hike around Valdez was exactly what we needed. They showed us a little park right next to the harbor. It is a very important one in Alaska because it is ice-free in the winter. We got a first great view of the city and the impressive surrounding.

Prince William Sound

Again Prince William Sound in Valdez

Valdez’s Harbor

This was the first eagle I have seen, many more followed. They are everywhere in Alaska

Oil…

Mathias, Jonas and I at the harbor

In the evening we had dinner with Jonas and enjoyed our first Alaskan beer. It was great catching up with the two German boys because even though we are here with the same program, we are in three different regions of the USA and therefore we made different experiences but also some very, very similar ones. Although Jonas was not head over heels in the beginning about his placement in Alaska, he loves it now even more and is confident to come back and live there. Later that night we got to meet some of his friends with whom we hung out for a while. When we went to bed at 2 it was still daylight. Even with blinds closed it just felt like taking an afternoon nap. Crazy.

I woke up to the brightest sunshine and saw a panoramic mountain view when I looked out of the window. The mountains all have snow covered tops and are very green and lush down in the valley which really surprised me. Jonas told us that this area is part of the temperate rainforest zone. Apparently it rains a lot and temperatures have been unusually high which helped the nature to become this green. Since Jonas had to work for a couple of hours, John took us on a hike after he prepared a good breakfast for us.

We hiked a rough gravel road along the Mineral Creek Valley. The path was not very steep and therefore easy to walk. Besides the creek we saw mountains rising up to over 5,000 feet and many beautiful waterfalls. I don’t know what it is about waterfalls but they just really calm me down and I feel very close to my mind and soul. Those waterfalls just crossed the path and there were no bridges. We just had to find a way to get over to the other side. That was great fun and also a good refreshment because, believe it or not, it was hot! Around noon the sun stood really high and fortunately I put on sunscreen. I never thought that I would be warm in a top and yoga pants while hiking in Alaska, but that’s what happened. We hiked, took pictures, enjoyed the nature and had great conversations. I loved this hike and it was definitely one of my highlights of the whole trip. It was so peaceful and I felt so far away from any civilization, problems or normal life. It was just me and the nature.

See how lush and green it is?

Waterfall

Mineral Creek

Mathias, John and me

I love waterfalls!

It was warm!

After a little lunch break we took off again for the second hike of the day. This time Jonas came along, as well as another friend who was in charge to keep an eye on possible bears. He had a gun with him – just in case he said. I wasn’t sure if I was more afraid of the gun or the bears.

This hike was steeper than the first one though a lot shorter. Our destination was Solomon Lake. I was already a bit tired and exhausted from the first hike and the heat, but it was totally worth going up there!!! The lake was unbelievable; such a rich turquoise color. It looked surreal. We took a long break up there while enjoying the view and the sun. I could have stayed and sat on that wall forever. It was just too pretty to leave.

On the Solomon Gulch Trail

Solomon Lake

LOVED IT!

John cooked us Pasta Alfredo for dinner and we took a nap in the early evening. At that point we all felt exhausted and we crushed for a few hours and rested. Since it didn’t get dark either way it didn’t matter when we met Jonas’ friends for a bonfire at the beach. To me it sounded amazing: watching the sunset and warming up around the fire since it did get quite chilly in the evenings. Well, I forgot one big thing: MOSQITOES! EVERYWHERE! It was hard to enjoy anything because those annoying bugs have been all over. Fortunately the locals had bug spray which we could use. Usually I feel like mosquitoes just laugh at you and your ridicolous spray and bite you anyways. But man this stuff worked. I don’t know what I put on my face and probably I also don’t want to know. It worked and that’s all that mattered to me. We gathered around the campfire, one of their friends brought fish which they grilled over a really cool self-made wooden stove and we enjoyed the night that didn’t turn into a night. It was a wonderful end to an unforgettable stay in Valdez, Alaska.

Downtown Valdez at 11 pm

Midnight

Alaskan gathering

Bonfire at night

Travel Buddies!

June 20th 2015 in Valdez, Alaska at 2 am

Early Saturday morning we left Valdez to go on a long road trip to the Kenai Peninsula for the second half of the trip. Our goal of the day was to drive 450 miles in 8 ½ hours. Paved streets are limited in Alaska, so we had to take the exact same route back to Anchorage. Even though it was the same street, it did look very different from another perspective. That day was not as sunny as the day before but we spent the whole day in the car either way. We had to stop for gas a couple of times, which by the way is not as cheap as I expected it. They have oil all over in Alaska, but the gas was still ‘expensive’. 3.59 Dollar per gallon is surely still cheap for Germans but a lot more expensive than in the lower 48s.

We passed Anchorage again without even stopping and had a beautiful drive to the Kenai Peninsula. Highway 1 directs you along the Turnagain Arm, a fjord of Cook Inlet. We had amazing views over the water and saw a more mellow Alaska without as many high mountains and waterfalls. For lunch we stopped at the very idyllic Summit Lake where it was sunny and blue sky again. It was a place to stay and rest longer, but we continued our way until we reached Soldotna.

Valdez – Soldotna

Thai food truck in the middle of nowhere in Alaska – Hello Globalization!

Happy me 🙂

Summit Lake

Summit Lake Lodge

Lunch break at the lake

Soldotna was the temporary home for Chris from Bavaria, the other lucky Alaskan CBYX student. The cities Soldotna and Kenai are very close to each other and a lot bigger than Valdez. It reminded me of a typical small town that could have been anywhere in the USA. They have several grocery stores, bars, restaurants and things to do.

We met Chris at a parking lot because his house was far out in the woods and he was afraid we wouldn’t find it. 10 miles outside of Soldotna we finally made it to the place where we would stay for three nights. At the time we visited Chris, he actually stayed with his college coordinator Diane and her husband Dan. For the last two weeks of his time in Soldotna, he decided to stay with them to spend more time together. And I don’t blame him; Diane and Dan have been the nicest host you could ever imagine. They gave us a very warm welcome and showed us around their house and property. They live in a traditional wooden cabin with a real fire stove for cooking and heating. Dan is retired and very active with carpeting furniture, building houses and being a beekeeper. He has 10 hives and produces his own honey. Diane shares the passion of working outside and takes care of her vegetables and fruits besides working at the local college.

I felt so lucky that we had this authentic home stay experience and met locals who shared their house, their story and the Alaskan lifestyle with us. What a great way to get to know the region instead of staying in a standardized hotel room.

Chris took us out for dinner and to the visitor center where we got to see a fullsize Alaskan moose. It was unfortuantely not real but the size was still very impressive! We then continued to Kenai Beach where we watched the most beautiful sunset. You would NEVER believe that this beach is in Alaska. I have seen beaches like that in California, in Hawaii or somewhere in the Mediterranean, but I couldn’t believe my eyes that this was Alaska!

We continued to follow the sunset and twilight from a very nice bar where we met Chris’ host mom and let this long beautiful day end; with daylight and amazing views.

Fullsize male moose – kind of big

Unbelievable sunset in Kenai

Sunday morning, June 21^st we took it easy and Diane prepared the nicest breakfast for us. Besides the classic breakfast food, she served us moose meat. I have never had it before and it tasted quite strong but really good. Moose are a very big version of a deer or an elk and extremely dangerous especially for car drivers. They cause a lot of accidents because they just get out of the dark forests and cross the streets. Around Soldotna there have been signs that said to look out for moose and showed a number of how many moose were killed in the last season through cars. Next to bears, moose are the wild animals people want to see when they are in Alaska. Also Mathias and I always kept our eyes open because we really wanted to see big wild animals after already seeing tons of eagles.

So we had our casual breakfast, ate moose, chatted and all of a sudden Diane said: ‘Look out there in the backyard!’ And there it was: a female moose with her cub walking through their backyard!!! OMG! We couldn’t believe it!!! They were so close! We grabbed our cameras, went outside to get closer and take a good shot. Females don’t get as big as the male animals but this one was already so big. You can only imagine what happens when you hit them with a car. We were so excited that we ate and saw moose within only 5 minutes. What a dark coincidence.

Good Morning little Moose

How is it going?

After all the excitement, we got ready and decided to drive to a small town called Seward on the other side of the peninsula. It is mostly known for Exit Glacier, a massive 4 miles long glacier in the Kenai Mountains. We strolled through downtown Seward and then we drove up to the glacier to start our hike.

The same moose crossed only minutes later our way on the street

Resurrection Bay in Seward with many clouds

Downtown Seward

Seward with our almost local tour guide Chris

There were two hikes and we all didn’t feel as motivated on doing the six hours one since it was already quite late. The shorter one was really cool as well and gave us a great views. I have never been to a glacier before so it was a cool experience seeing this really old and massive ice. There were many tourists around from all over the world and several information boards gave the historic background of the glacier. I was really impressed and shocked that the glacier melts so quickly. Even within the last 15 years it shrunk by several meters. Hopefully the melting of Exit Glacier will slow down a little so that many more generations can see this beautiful natural sight.

Exit Glacier

Path to the Glacier – all this used to be covered by the glacier as well

So massive!

The Germans made it!

You can tell how small it already looks down there

And there it melts away

Slowly dripping…

We took many photos and on our way back down we discovered a little path that took us to a river that was formed through the melting ice. The water was of course very, very clear but also ice cold. All of a sudden I saw a big old chunk of glacier ice in the river. I grabbed it and I seriously don’t remember why I was so excited, but hey I held centuries old ice in my hands. In the following picture you can see my excitement pretty well.

Exicted to hold glacier ice

We were all cracking up and behaved as if we had found a treasure that was lost for hundreds of years. No, it was only a piece of ice, a very old one though. Chris carried it all the way back to the car but at the end of the day it was of course gone. Only memories remained.
On our way back we stopped in a small town called Moose Pass where a small summer festival was going on. We had lunch and looked around the stands before we went back to Soldotna. We took it easy that night and played games; UNO and Sorry (‘Mensch ärger dich nicht’). Well unfortunately I sucked and the boys both dominated. Even though I hate to lose, we still had so much fun. I fell asleep quickly and dreamt of moose, glaciers and the never ending land of Alaska.

Monday morning we took a trip to Homer in the south of Kenai Peninsula. We stopped at a very pretty beach and watched boats getting in and out of Cook Inlet. Interestingly a lot of towns in Kenai have very Russian sounding names, for example my favorite: Kalifornsky Beach. Apparently there is a big Russian community which is not as surprising since Russia is indeed very close to Alaska. Only a small strait of the Bering Sea is dividing the two countries.

Cook Inlet, clouds and the peak of Mount Redoubt (3,108 m)

Beautiful beach on the way to Homer

Selfie with Chris

The Alaskan way to get boats out of the water – with tractors

What used to be a fish

Orthodox church on top of the cliff

After a one and half hours drive we made it to Homer, a small town to me and again a fairly big one in Alaska. It is called the ‘Halibut Fishing Capital of the World’. Before getting to the city center we stopped at a great look out platform where we had an amazing view of beautiful wild flowers, the beach, the ocean and the snow capped mountains. The combination of all that in the June sunshine was stunning and I kept reminding myself: Anneke, you are in Alaska! I also thought it was really interesting that the vegetation was not that different to what it is in Germany. You could see the same flowers, trees and bushes on the other side of the world. Still, I felt that I was very far away from home.

Homer, Alaska – Halibut Fishing Capital of the world

Probably one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. It says it all: Mountains, ocean, wild flowers, blue sky and sunshine

Flowers…

… growing wild…

…in Alaska!

More flowers and also an RV – they have been EVERWHERE in Alaska

In Homer we started the day at a gorgeous little cafe called ‘Two Sisters Bakery’. It is very hidden in a residential area and therefore still an insider tip around locals. I have a thing for cute small cafés, so of course I got really excited about that one as well. They offered a variety of cakes, pies, pastries, soups and salads. We all went for different pastries and coffee which we enjoyed on the patio outside in the sun with a beautiful ocean view.

Two Sisters Bakery

Brunch in the sun

Do you know those moments in life when you don’t realize until later that it was a moment you will think back to for a long time? And then on the opposite those moments where you can already tell in that particular minute that this is one to remember? In that café in Homer, Alaska I knew exactly that I was in the right place at the right time. I just felt deeply satisfied and happy. Sometimes it’s the little things like sitting in a sunny café with lovely company that make me realized how lucky I really am.

From the café it was only a few steps to Bishops Beach, a wide beautiful beach with a grassy area behind. It was perfect for a little walk and another million pictures. When we have been there it was low tide and it was indeed really low. It reminded us of the North Sea and the Wadden Sea in Germany. Later that day we also went to a visitor center where they explained that the tides are really extreme in this area, sometimes up to 24 feet (7 meters) difference.

Bishops Beach

Look at the wide country without a single person

This is my ‘did-you-finally-take-a-picture?’ pose 😉

The boys

Beautiful life in Alaska

We spend the whole day around Homer, walked around the Homer Spit which is a distinguishing feature of the city. It is a narrow 4.5 mi (7.2 km) long sand spit that extends into the bay. The harbor, many touristy souvenir shops and restaurants are located along the spit.

We enjoyed the beautiful day and got ice cream that we enjoyed in the sun while looking out on the beach. It was surreal and something I would have never expected in Alaska. Tough everyone kept telling us, we were just very lucky. Usually the weather changes a lot more and cold winds and rain dominate the coast.

Inside a souvenir shop on the Homer Spit – so cute

I have never found polar bears more appropriate for an ice cream store than in Alaska

This is Alaska! Ice cream in the sun on the beach!

Homer Beach

Souvenir shops and restaurants in Homer

I just couldn’t help not taking a picture of that!

Just because it is so stunning – the beach again

Fisher House

Enjoying the sun

Homer’s harbor

The end of Homer Spit – people are actually fishing from the beach!

In the late afternoon we met up with two of Chris’ friends for dinner. We went to a nice pizza place and there it hit me again, we are still in the United States. The pizzas were huge and even though two of us shared one we didn’t even eat half of it. It was seriously ridiculous. The dinner was really fun and it was great hanging out, chatting and laughing with local Alaskans in our age. Great times!

Pizza with all these fun guys!

When we came back at 8 o’clock we found Chris’s host family lying out in the hot sun – at 8 o’clock in the evening!!! I loved it! After the beautiful day I was ready for a revenge of UNO and finally dominated the second round although I am sure the boys would never admit it!

Dan and Diane sun bathing in the background and Mathias playing with their dog at 8 pm

I couldn’t believe that it was already the last night in Alaska. Although the time went by so fast, it also already felt so normal staying and traveling through Alaska. When I fell asleep and recapped the past days, I was just so happy that I decided to go on this rather spontaneous and unplanned trip.

We woke up early in the morning since we still wanted to go to some places before our flight left. Chris took us for breakfast to ‘The Moose is Loose’, a lovely little café and souvenir shop in the heart of Soldotna. Afterwards he showed us the greenhouse where he is working and on our way back we even got to see his college. It was great getting an insight view of his daily life. Then it was unfortunately already time to say goodbye to Chris. The good thing is that we will all see each other in just a couple of weeks in Washington DC before we all fly back home.

Mathias and I grabbed our car and drove up north, back to Anchorage Airport. We calculated 3 hours for the trip and to be honest we didn’t have too much extra time. At some point we had to pass several constructions that slowed us down and we started worrying. But in the end it was all good and we had just the right amount of time to get gas, return the car, check-in, go through security and find the gate. Our flight to Seattle left on time and we had a smooth flight back to the mainland. On the airport we said our goodbyes and I boarded my plane to Portland. By midnight I eventually laid in my own big comfy bed in West Linn.

The whole trip was so easy and without any problems. In the end it was almost a bit scary how lucky we were with the weather, the hosts, the organization, seeing the moose and so on. Alaska was so much more than I expected and it totally blew me away. The landscape is stunning and really hard to describe with words. I can now understand why both Jonas and Chris enjoyed their year so much. Though I am aware that being there for only 6 days in the summer time is very different than staying in Alaska for a whole year through the long, dark winter. I really admire them for that!
Jonas and Chris both have been the best hosts who took the time to show us around and made us understand why their year in Alaska has been such a good experience. I am glad that we visited them since no other CBYX participant did until then and they were finally able to proudly present their host state. We all had so much fun together and I couldn’t have asked for better travel companions. To me it was the perfect opportunity to go since we could easily mingle with locals and therefore got such an authentic visit. I loved every second and was very sad when the time was already over. I didn’t think that I would ever enjoy it that much. And aren’t those unexpected surprises the best experiences? It is definitely a trip that I will remember for a long, long time. Or let me put it differently: a trip that I will never forget!

THANY YOU Chris, Jonas & my personal driver Mathias. It was amazing!

Anneke