Alyeska Highs

I have a lot of favorite places, some sunny, some sandy, some rocky, some fields of green.  They are vastly separate, but they all have one thing in common.  They give you the feeling like you are standing at the edge of the earth as you know it.  On this August day, Shibby and I stepped off a gondola and came across this couple and their dog, doing just exactly that thing.

They were overlooking the Hotel Alyeska in the long light of an Alaska summer's eve.  The title may be misleading.  Alyeska is the local ski resort, and one of the poshest places I have found up here so far.  This is literally the tallest viewpoint in the area.  And, it is technically part of Girdwood, a reputed hippie style town, so "Alyeska highs" can be referenced in other ways in this part of Alaska (marijuana is legal in Alaska, so long as you neither buy nor sell it, which may explain why the garden supply aisles at the local WalMart are so expansive despite our long winters).

For a moment I had to stop looking for Heidi and the goats and realize I wasn't living a moment from the old movie "Edelweiss."  It's a special thing to witness an Alaska summer.

The hills are steeper than you realize when their snow is all gone.  You can hike it, you can bike it.  And I would have when I was 20.  Even when I was 30.  But it seems there is a paradigm shift somewhere between then and there, when you start to realize the inverse relationship between bravery and longevity.  Finding your happy place between the two is the key I think.  It wasn't a decision I had to make, standing there 4 days after knee surgery (does a scooter wreck dodging a tiny rat terrier count as bravery?  I think it took a few years off my live so it must).

There is a great view of the ocean on the 'backside' of Alyeska.  Sometimes people will come here just to watch the bore tide.  What's a bore tide you say?  It's a rush of seawater flowing back into an inlet after low tides, which can be particularly dramatic around the full moon.  Think of it as a wave, but instead of a wave that rolls in, gets drawn back out, and followed by another, it's a wave that rolls in and keeps rolling for 25 miles uninterrupted before it reaches shore.

But the real reason we found ourselves atop Aleyska was tradition.  Fancy dinner night, a must when time allows and the adventures have been good.  So on top of Alyeska is a wonderful dining room, it's called Seven Glaciers and it is fabulous.  We went all out with a lobster bisque, steak, and crab legs.  The only regret was being too full to try the famous Baked Alyeska.  I shall return, specifically for that I think.