Oh Alaska!

Alaska is named for the Aleut word alaxsxaq meaning "the mainland" or"that which the sea breaks against" also from the word Alyeska which means "the great land".  And indeed Alaska is great! 

In fact, Alaska is huge, majestic, awesome, expansive, ginormo, etc.  Alaska is way bigger than Texas.  The cumulative seacoast mileage of Alaska is longer than that of the entire continental U.S.  The two largest national forests in the U.S. are in (where else) Alaska, as well as, the tallest peak in North America.  Even the birds are huge in Alaska.  Compare a robin or crow from anywhere in the lower 48 and they will be dwarfed by the same bird in Alaska.

For Sarah, the astonishing thing about Alaska has been learning how ridiculously dangerous living there seems to be.  And the locals can expound, in gruesome detail, on the various ways you can meet The Maker during your short vacation.  Just ask them.  We should all have the common sense to avoid bears (black, brown, and polar), moose, bison, sheep, caribou, elk, fox, wolf, lynx, and wolverines. 

http://vimeo.com/27487403

But the glacially fed rivers and lakes stay so cold all year that even a short exposure (approx. 5 minutes) can be deadly.  The Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet experiences some of the highest tide swings (up to 40 feet) in the world.  That could kill you somehow.  And almost every year somebody fatally wanders out on the mudflats during low-tide only to find out too late that the tide comes in under the flats first quickly turning what was as solid as concrete into quicksand.  Volcanoes.  Avalanches.  Calving glaciers.  Rock slides.  You really have to stay on your toes.

Summer in Alaska offers some of the best wildflower viewing, well don't get too close because many of those plants are extremely toxic.  And the almost invisible prickles of the devil's club plant, that seem to grow everywhere, will actually burrow themselves into your body if you have the misfortune of brushing against one.  Not fatal, but very uncomfortable. 

We even heard a story about a tragic situation where a beloved horse somehow contracted rabies, turned on its owner and killed them.  There are neighborhood dogs that regularly kill moose calves and I am sure they would turn on a human.  It gets so cold in the winter sometimes that my mom has witnessed ice forming on the concrete walls of her basement. That's right, inside her house and that is with the heat full blast!  While we were visiting, the local newspaper issued a warning that clams being harvested this year were tainted and, you guessed it, they can kill you if you eat them.

Despite all this, we enjoy every trip we make to Alaska!  We are blessed to have such courageous family braving the elements and living the Alaskan adventure.  May you dwell in the shelter of The Most High and rest in the shadow of The Almighty.