Tags
Alaska, Anchorage, Denali National Park, Flight, Healy, Homer, Iditarod, Japanese Belief, Kenai Peninsula, Northern Lights
June 14 – Depart Anchorage
We woke up early this morning to catch our 7:05 am flight home. I’m glad I stayed awake for our take off, because it was spectacular. With another perfectly clear day, you could watch Anchorage slowly gave way to rugged mountains, and you couldn’t tell where the snow ended and the clouds began.
I have to admit that after having only come to Alaska in January for basketball and getting immediate bloody noses in -38 degree weather in Fairbanks, I wasn’t as excited as I should have been to come here in the summer. However, after this experience, I can see why many people flock to Alaska for the season. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and so vast! On a shuttle from the lodge to the train station in Healy, I asked our driver where he was from, and he mentioned Homer. Homer is 470 miles south of Healy, an 8.5 hour drive. I commented that that was pretty far, and he answered, “Not really, only about three towns away.” Our senses of proximity were definitely a little different. After all, Alaska is twice the size of Texas and its shoreline is longer than the entire Atlantic Coast.
After this trip and hearing about the beauty of the Kenai Peninsula and Homer (which I was told was the local secret), I hope to come back and take the train south to see more of this beautiful state. I also have added it to my bucket list to come up to Anchorage for the Iditarod send off celebration. I got to see a few moose, but I still need to check seeing the Northern Lights off my bucket list!
(Interesting tidbit to end on: It is said that Japanese believe that if you conceive a baby under the northern lights that their child will be successful and wealthy in life. Fairbanks sees more Japanese tourists in the winter than any others. So many that Japan Airlines started chartering direct flights from Japan to Fairbanks every winter.)
So maybe visiting in the winter may have some perks after all?