The Land of the Midnight Sun

Finally, I've escaped, at least temporarily, from the desert. I'm spending two weeks in Alaska with Andrea and all the kids. It is sort of a celebratory vacation to honor Kathleen's graduation from high school and Nicholas' seventh birthday.

I thought the hardest thing to adjust to would be going from the 120 degree, desolate, flat deserts to the 58-72 degree, lush, mountains - but I was wrong. The strangest adjustment, thus far, has been the white nights. The white nights, or midnight sun, is the phenomenon common near the Arctic Circle in which the sun stays above the horizon for over twenty hours a day and nightfall is never darker than twilight. The most obvious effect is the lack of natural time sense. On more than one occasion, we've been sitting in our mountain cabin in the afternoon puzzled at why everyone is so hungry. A simple glance at my watch reveals the mystery - it's ten o'clock at night and we haven't had dinner! Of course, the positive side is that we have more than enough hours of daylight to do activities with the kids and to see the amazing mountain ranges that encircle us.

The landscape and the wildlife here are amazing. Bald eagles fly overhead and moose occasionally wander into people's yards. Local hiking stores carry ample supplies of large pepper spray canisters to help hikers and campers ward off bears. The accepted protocol for dealing with bears, besides avoidance, seems to be as follows: make noise so the bear is inclined to go the other way; if the bear continues to approach because he appears curious or in want of your food, make threatening noises that let the bear know that you "mean business"; if the bear is not dissuaded by your noises and charges, you should stand your ground as most bear charges are bluffs (most). Finally, if the bear does attack, your choices are to get into a fetal position to protect your vital organs or, and this is my favorite advice, fight the bear. Yes, folks, you read that correctly. The correct and appropriate defense against a bear attack is to fight the 1500 pound alpha predator and hope for the best. Obviously, I hope our vacation happens without a hitch, but if I did happen to find myself hiking in Denali National Park with my family and end up kicking a bear's ass - I'll have the best vacation story EVER.

I photographed this guy stealing nest building materials from other birds at Potter Marsh, a Coastal Wildlife Refuge located just south of Anchorage. The marsh has a boardwalk to make it accessible to pedestrians and allow people to view wildlife up close.