Back in 2018, when I went to Hong Kong by myself, I had gone on an Airbnb walking tour and met Jereme, a fellow American who was also traveling solo to see Above & Beyond at their annual milestone show. We each had traveled with our “real” cameras, so we bonded instantly over music and photography and traveling. (It also helped that we were the two oldest people in the tour group.) We kept in touch after that trip and met up in 2019 (with the girlfriends too) at The Gorge for another Above & Beyond weekend.
Since that 2019 trip, Lummi and I had been threatening to visit Jereme in Alaska and the pandemic made this much more possible, given that it didn’t feel safe to travel to most other places. The relative remoteness, the limited contact with strangers, and the fact that we’d be outside a lot was a great selling point, so we bought flights, packed our bags, and brought Nari, our 7-month-old Shih Tzu to Alaska.
We landed in Anchorage on a Thursday after a harrowing and stressful flight with Nari, who apparently hates flying and really does not like being confined in her carrier. We were barely able to keep her calm, even with Benadryl, so finally landing on the ground was a major relief. Jereme picked us up in his jeep and took us to his beautiful home, and we caught up with him in his kitchen until his girlfriend Lynn was finished with work. We walked to the weekly jazz fest for surprisingly good Thai street food. Rain was sporadic but never heavy, and we learned that day that using umbrellas is a sign of weakness in Alaska.
Friday morning, Lynn noticed that the weather in Whittier was surprisingly good – which is rare, hence the expression “it’s shittier in Whittier” – so she proposed that we do the Portage Glacier hike. The drive to Turnagain was pretty, but the views from the hike were incredible. Nari – who was in heat and wearing diapers! – was a great little hiker and kept motoring the entire time, much to the amusement of all the other hikers we passed.
Upon reaching the glacier lake, we sat down and had convenience store sandwiches and glacier water ice cubes for lunch, listening to the periodic rumbling of the glacier calving.
After heading back and finishing the hike, we had beers at the Whittier Inn, then drove to Girdwood Brewing for more beer and food trucks.
On Saturday morning we went to South for a really good brunch, walked around the farmers market, and then drove around town for some sightseeing, including a long walk to “what Alaskans call the beach” in Kincaid Park. That evening, Jereme and Lynn hosted a small party at their place, so we enjoyed food and drinks, music by Dave Dresden on Twitch, multiple dogs, and lots of Codenames.
Sunday was a DIY “biking brewery tour” and our hosts were able to wrangle some extra bikes for us. Lummi and I had brought a backpack for Nari, so I put her on my back, we hopped on our bikes, and set off for the breweries: Turnagain Brewing (excellent chili lager), Anchorage Brewing (all IPAs and really heavy beers), and finally King Street Brewing (great rooftop). Nari seemed to really enjoy being in the backpack initially, then almost seemed to doze off after a bit.
After biking, we spent the early evening at Lynn’s place and they cooked up a really good seafood dinner: salmon and halibut cheek. We went back to Jereme’s for some TV and whiskey and ended up chatting until 2:00 in the morning. It didn’t even seem that late because the days are so long in Alaska during the summer. The sun was still out at 11:00 at night, so it really feels like you can do a lot with your days there.
All in all, it was a really great trip to a place that had been on my bucket list for a long time. I realize we’ve seen only a tiny, tiny fraction of the entire state, but that was enough to see that Alaska is a pretty fascinating and really beautiful place, especially during the summer. I have a feeling we’ll be back again!