North to the Future

Tonight, I head North to the Future (that’s the state motto of Alaska). I’ve got my marching orders via email from njbookwoman who has planned out every detail with my dad. It looks like we’ve got at least two bus tours, a couple of air taxis, some boat tours and a few long stretches of driving through the land of the midnight sun. I suspect there will be many opportunities to view wildlife, scenery and perhaps some oddities out the windows of these various vehicles. And of course, I can’t wait to see what views we might have out the window of the lodges we are staying in. I’ve wanted to go to Alaska for a long time and several items on my bucket list reflect that.

-see a bald eagle

-ride in small prop/float plane

-see the northern lights

I’m told the summer sky is not dark enough to see the northern lights but I’ll have a good chance at crossing of the other two items. Does it count double if I see a bald eagle out the window of a float plane? I think if anyone could pull it off I could. I’ve spent months training here at my desk spotting wildlife or neighborhood curiosities out the window and quickly reacting with a photo, video or look through the binoculars. To the usual postings about passersby, birds and Mt. Tam I hope to add next week some sightings of orcas, grizzlies and Mt. McKinley.

Well, before I head out the door let me make sure you don’t have the impression that we’ll just be taking everything in from the comfort of a vehicle. Rest assured we’ll also be hiking the glaciers and kayaking the bays and experiencing the immensity of the final frontier. Alaska has less people than San Francisco and the population density there is only one person per square mile! For a point of comparison, the population density of the great state of New Jersey is 1,185 people per square mile. Let's hope the population density of bears is higher in Alaska though than in NJ where they are frequently spotted raiding garbage cans and dumpsters. Ok see you when I return to ‘civilization’ on August 8^th!