The past week had solstice written all over it, which in
Fairbanks means 24-hour sunlight and lots of festivities. I decided to take a
road-trip with friends to Healy and the 49th State Brewery’s
Solstice Festival. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny night with great music
and happy people. We crashed for a few hours in our car – that is, I slept in
the car and the other three slept behind it. Somehow I have managed to live in
Alaska with all it entails on and off for four years without ever needing my
own sleeping bag and mat. Instead I have slept in car seats, trailers, tents,
friends’ houses, and strangers’ houses on a sheepskin with a blanket or even a
robe a couple times. This weekend was no different and after a couple of hours
of sleep we turned back towards Fairbanks. We were lucky enough to get back to
town before heavy smoke took over the highway between Denali and Fairbanks as
one of the bigger wildfires of this season spread from 9 to 20,000 acres in
just 36 hours. I could smell the smoke in my garden last night, but today the
winds must have turned and I have yet to see ashes fall from the sky or have
smoky clouds cover up the sun.
I can add to my education in American cuisine after this
weekend, as a friend ordered the exquisite dish of waffle fries with melted
cheese, bacon and sour cream. Check my photo page for an illustration. I was
also told that the bus – on my photo page – is in fact the famous bus from the
book (and movie) Into the Wild. It was hauled out of its spot in the wilderness
because people kept hiking out to it, get stuck and die. I’m not sure whether
to believe this or not, but just in case it was really true we made sure to
document. I mentioned it before on this blog, but I think it is hilarious that
while people around the world idealize Christopher McCandless as a great
example of how to break free of society and materialism, Alaskans think the guy
was an idiot who wandered unprepared into the wild and now people are following
his example to their own demise. I enjoyed the story, but I see their point.
Happy solstice everyone!
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