Alaska, Here I Come!

It’s done.

After four hours online and on the phone, with 30,000 Delta SkyMiles out the door and another $700 in buckaroos I’ll have to earn by writing essays, and my Asheville-Seattle-Anchorage-McCarthy-Anchorage-Seattle-Asheville excursion is now booked.

I will see college friends in Seattle, hitch a ride to Walla Walla (home of my alma matter, Whitman College) for a wedding with more college friends, then head back to Seattle. The next morning it’s northbound to Anchorage, where I’ll see another college friend who has a place for me to stay and a beat up old (uninsured) Subaru I can drive. There I’ll have 9 days to day hike around Denali, take a day-ferry from Seward out to Kenai Fjords, and who knows what else. I am currently in the process of persuading some of my PacNW friends to venture to AK with me for those 9 days…Anyone, anyone?

On August 12th, the Wrangell Mountain Center will give me a ride from Anchorage to McCarthy and the writing residency cabin, 7 hours from the city ending with a 40-mile gravel road. Once there, I’ll have a week with SRS and a handful of other writers, plus a friendly staff.

My return trip will be long, as a direct flight from Anchorage back home cost $300-$400 more than a flight to Seattle with an overnight stay and then another flight home the next day. Go figure.

Eventually, around August 21st, I’ll find myself back in the Blue Ridge Mountains.