Alaska: Ice, Mosquitoes, and Cute Fuzzy Things

For those of you living under a rock, or just ignorant of my activities as seen on Facebook, I was in Alaska from the 18th to the 27th. It’s been an interesting experience, I honestly didn’t know what to expect going. We all have our conceptions about how it’s an unconquered frontier with grizzly bears and lots of snow and mosquitoes, but those notions really don’t do it justice. Alaska is a HUGE state that’s stitched by looming mountains, expansive forests, and a healthy dose of water via rivers and lakes. Towns are formed where they can be, and fishermen and campers are sprinkled almost everywhere else.

The general feel of life there is quite simplistic, sharply contrasted with bits of cutting edge technology. Drive across Alaska and you’ll find lonely lodges far removed from society, aging propeller planes bringing people to remote locales, and power lines traversing hundreds of miles of wilderness to bring electricity to distant towns. Yet every now and then, you’ll spot a Toyota Prius between dilapidated pickup trucks, or a new GPS navigation system on a float plane whose instrument panel is threatening to rattle itself to pieces. It’s these juxtapositions that highlights how no matter how advanced we are, the land of Alaska refuses to be conquered by time.

Before I start getting too abstract, let me switch gears to a description of my trip, which I’m sure you’re actually here to read about. I woke up, on that fine Wednesday morning of the 18th at 4:30 AM to catch our 7 AM flight to Seattle. Definitely not fun, but the sunrise helped burn away the residual sleepiness. We had an uneventful, and fairly on-time flight into SEA from EWR. Surprisingly enough, they served breakfast. I guess budget woes haven’t killed meal-service just yet, though I would’ve preferred a more exciting in-flight movie... After a light lunch, we continued into ANC. Also uneventful and on-time shockingly enough.

Upon landing, we grabbed out bags and embarked on a 4-5 hour drive down to the lovely town of Homer where we met up with my cousin’s family (they started their trip a few days earlier and had visited Denali National Park first). Dinner was had at a crude, but particularly ethnic Russian “café.” Gift shop fused with a kitchen would be more accurate, but I digress. Following that, we planted ourselves in our room at the Bay View Inn. It was a small place that could clearly have done with some bathroom renovations, but the view was nothing short of breathtaking. I thought it was awesome in twilight, but it was even better during in the morning sun.

We had a quick breakfast and drove further into Homer on day 2, stopping by the beach to snap closer shots of the mountain-rimmed bay, and then to a narrow peninsula jutting into Kachemak Bay for a stunning 180+ degree view of snow-capped mountains. We then drove an hour or so to go salmon fishing. That was an interesting, serene-frustrating-exciting activity. It was neat, just standing knee-deep in the turquoise (no, not ‘aqua’ or some other BS color) river, falling into a pattern as I cast my line. I got one bite, but in my inexperienced state, I lost the fish. Still cool nonetheless. I’d also sprung a leak in my waders, resulting in a complete drenching of my right leg. I just hadn’t noticed it because the cold penetrated the neoprene and numbed my legs.
For day 3, we drove to Seward, stopping in the morning for a dog sled ride. It was really just a glorified cart on wheels, but seeing as it weighed upwards of 600 pounds, carried 7 people, and was pulled at a running pace by dogs no taller than your waist, it was pretty impressive. Plus, we got to cuddle with Husky pups, so that was a definite positive experience (omg, they’re so soft and adorable!!!). We continued into Seward, and by the early afternoon, we were on a wilderness-wildlife cruise of the Resurrection Bay. Lots of snow-capped mountains, quite a few seabirds, and the occasional eagle and sea lion sighting.
The next day, we drove up to Whittier. It’s a town accessible only by a one lane tunnel, also shared by a train. The direction of traffic shifts every half hour, definitely an interesting place, and slightly unnerving, driving into a dark tunnel while straddling train tracks. We emerged into a town nestled on the coast of Prince William Sound, had lunch at a nice café run by a couple overlooking the bay, and boarded another cruise, this one for glaciers. This one was on decidedly calmer waters, as it was more sheltered from the sea. We got within a mile of two glaciers and chilled (pun partially intended) in ice-laden waters, listening to the glaciers creaking and groaning. After getting back close to 7, we caught the outbound traffic time-slot out of Whittier and planted ourselves in Anchorage for the night.

Day 5 was Sunday, and seeing as my relatives and their friends we went fishing with (on day 2) were Christian, my mom thought it respectful to join them for a morning service. Since I generally try to keep an open mind, I thought nothing of it until we actually got to the church. I should have known better. We’re Chinese. The congregation was predominantly Chinese. The service was therefore bilingual. The singing was Chinese. Oh the horror. My hopes for a straightforward service were dashed when I realized that after each reading of a bible passage, it had to be repeated in English, doubling the length of the entire procedure. But I survived, and we went to a flea market afterwards. Not quite my thing, and it was drizzling somewhat. Dinner was had at an Asian buffet.

The next day, we woke up early to fly to Brooks Lodge, a place noted for bear viewing. It was a two leg journey by small plane, and I was fortunate to commandeer the copilot’s seat for both inbound segments. The view was cool to say the least, most people never get a chance to look dead ahead when flying, much less cruise at low altitudes. Upon arriving, we encountered a drought of several hours without seeing a bear. The salmon run had not yet begun so the place wasn’t a bear hotspot yet (alas, nature cannot be predicted). But our trip was salvaged when shortly after lunch, when we saw a lone bear across a marsh, and then later, a mother and her two cubs lounging on the beach. We flew back and spent another night in Anchorage. My cousins & associated family flew back to sunny Cali.

And on the 7th day, dad said “let there be a glacier,” and we saw a glacier… Okay, maybe I’m paraphrasing, but we did go out of our way, on the way up to Denali, to visit the Matanuska Glacier and walk on it. That was kind of fun, challenging myself to run on ice without falling. It was cool, yet slightly disconcerting as I walked within a few feet of a multi-story fall into an icy abyss (and yes, I do have a slight fear of heights, but nothing against flying strangely enough). We continued a several hour long drive up to Denali and arrived at our lodge on mile 231 of the Parks Highway.

We woke up at 5 AM to get breakfast and catch our tour bus into the park. It was quite the cool experience, driving over 90 miles into the interior of Denali National Park. I’d never thought that we could see so much wildlife from a road, but we did. A dozen grizzly bears, scores of caribou, a smattering of moose, and countless snowshoe hares were encountered at some point on the day long trip. It really shows what nature’s capable of with a minimal amount of human presence (the only private vehicles allowed that far into the park were tour busses). The park itself was also spectacular. The scale and diversity of the land was completely unlike anything I’ve ever seen before (short of Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel). Sprawling grass-covered valleys routed by steep mountains were spread out before us for the majority of the trip. We were also quite lucky to see Mt. McKinley, visible only 20% of the time due to cloud cover. Our tour (Kantishna Tour line) also gave us a choice of activities for after lunch, my parents opted for gold panning, so I was forced to hesitantly put on waders once again and step into the frigid waters. I had no idea what I was doing, but with a pair of experienced eyes overseeing my clumsy attempts to perform the task at hand, I uncovered a rather underwhelmingly tiny gold flake, a souvenir I suppose.

On our last day at Denali, we took a short trip to a lake on a ranger-led hike. Luck was strongly in our favor, as we found a moose and her calf grazing in the shallows of the beaver-formed lake. We were no more than 30 yards away, watching them go about life ignorant of our presence, very cool if I do say so myself. Following that, we dropped by the dog kennels and met the only husky teams in the national park system. Alas, the puppies weren’t available for cuddling, but I got to get close to a few other canine denizens. Visit concluded, we partially filled out gas tank and headed for Trapper Creek (Regular at that particular station was $5.33). We arrived at a trio of moderately sized cabins with a clouded over view of Mt. McKinley. As I write this, I’m hoping that we’ll have a clear view of the mountain for tomorrow morning, but we’ll see. (The date is 26.5.08, we are roughly 30 hours from home!!!)

Aaaaaaand… no. It’s cloudy on our last day in Alaska. No view of Denali. Oh well. Not that I cared to snap too many more pictures anyway. An uneventful pair of flights and I am home.
Overall, we’ve been quite fortunate. The only rain we’ve had to put up with was driving to Trapper Creek. The weather held up extremely nicely for the rest of the trip. I’ve seen quite a few things new and exciting, and crossed a few things off my nonexistent list of things to do before I die.

Final Verdict: Pretty damn good, but definitely glad I wasn’t the one driving for all those hours, and also not the one paying for it.

Rough Distance Traveled:
Map of Trip Route
Low-Res Album*: http://www.tcnj.edu/~moy5/Album/Alaska/index.html
*High Resolution Album to be posted eventually.

A Semi-Objective Comparison of Families

I would seem that something like this is overdue, at least in writing. The past month and a half has been an interesting look into other lifestyles. I’m still only now beginning to identify and understand all the differences between our families. It’s strange coming to terms with such a sharp contrast, “Asian” and for all intents and purposes “American.” And even with those labels, it’s impossible to affix the adjective “typical” in front of them.

I suppose the first difference to be noticed is communication. Michelle’s family tends to be very vocal and open. When you walk into her house, all reservations should be abandoned. Things are always spirited and it’s impossible to just hide in a corner and avoid social interaction. I was quite surprised to see how casual and candid she was with her parents and sister. Nothing was too light or facetious to discuss. Take a 40 minute hop over to my abode, and things are almost sterile. Granted, this summer has been atypical in that I have work, but it’s the equivalent of me going to school and staying after for sports. When I come home, there’s not much conversation aside from, “oh, was work any less boring today?” There really isn’t much to discuss. I hide away in the computer room, my brother is either doing homework or in the living room reading or watching TV, and my mom attends to various household tasks (which, by this hour, is either gardening or prepping dinner). My dad doesn’t get home until around 7, sometimes 8. In such a lifestyle, it’s all too easy to forego dialogue.

I suppose now would be a good segue into parental values. While I can’t say much about Michelle’s household, it just seems they just emphasize an enjoyment of life. On the rare occasions my dad pulls me aside to have a personal chat, I’ll inevitably have to sit through a sales pitch for medicine as a career. He’s got decent points, but it’s somewhat removed from what I find to be a contemporary view of life. The overwhelming school of thought in this generation is the pursuit of what you enjoy, and what brings you happiness. The parental opinion of the yester-generation (especially Asian: Oriental and Indian) is that medicine is the ideal career because it will always be in demand and it pays well. It’s job security. I don’t know, that just seems… too formulaic a life, picking a career based solely on those principles of job security. I don’t have a problem with being a doctor, but I’m also not excited at the prospect, and there’s no point in pursuing something so distinguished if it’s only going to be done half-heartedly. And despite the numerous opinions of science and technology friends my dad has sought to scare me away from engineering, I still can’t really embrace his point of view without seeing it for myself. My mom’s a bit better, she seems to be more open to accepting where I go and what I do so long as I’m happy, though I know she sympathizes at least partly with my dad on this matter.

Well, after the topic of future work, the logical progression would be play. More specifically, entertainment. This is where the real difference, I think, shows. My family will inevitably schedule family trips, or various “social” activities. Take the upcoming Alaska trip for instance. Though it’s more my mom driving our travel agenda, it is nonetheless one of the more active activities we do. But other than that, “normal” things to get us out of the house are usually things like playing tennis, or getting dragged by my mom to Tai Chi (for you ignorant people with misguided notions about it, it’s like Yoga on crack except more like martial arts… ). By the way, it should be noted that although a vacation is family time, large chunks of it, like in the car or in the hotel room or gazing over grand vistas, will be spent in relative silence.

When I first glimpsed Michelle’s familial activities, I was admittedly dubious. 18 years in a pseudo-conservative Asian household had taught me that movies and sports were wastes of time. In fact, that was one of the cornerstones of my childhood. Disney aside, I had seen very few movies in my youth. In fact, I could count all the times I’d been to a movie theater on one hand. As for sporting events? Well, there was that 8^th grade field trip where we stopped by to see the Orioles in Baltimore… But it wasn’t until I noticed the stark differences in our family that I started to see a less superficial and cynical picture. What they do as a family, and what my family would view as frivolous, is a major contributor to my second paragraph. “American entertainment” gives them (Michelle’s household) something to talk about and something to bring them together. My family only really gets together around the dinner table. And there’s no real interaction there, you don’t gain much insight into each other’s lives cause there’s no real commonality. I mean, sure, I could entice my dad into an exchange of banter by bringing up Atopic Dermatitis or Malpractice Insurance, but would I really do that? Screaming and yelling aside, sports, I’m coming to see, is a fairly valuable tool in unlocking casual conversation.

As for more material things, I can’t even begin to cover that topic. Food, for example, is a gaping paradigm. My mom spends about an hour in prep for food. And even if she did that early and efficiently, there’s no way to really mitigate cooking time, because there are just so many individual dishes to attend to, between meats and vegetables and combinations of the former. In comparison, at least what little I’ve seen, the majority of the culinary effort in Michelle’s house goes towards some sort of primary dish, and everything else is secondary. Not that there’s anything to bash about Chinese food (restaurant grade at least), but I kind of have to say that I like her way better. There’s almost something to look forward to instead of a cursory overview of the entire food pyramid on one table that we have here. And don’t even get me started on how my mom is a freak for organic…

I’m sure I could go on and on, but as I look down in the corner of the Microsoft Word window, I see myself nearing 1100 words. I think I’ll stop here. Do I really have too many regrets in my childhood? Nope. Can I fault my parents for anything? Probably not. I really couldn’t see myself anywhere else anyways, being a nerd is cool. But do I wish that somehow my family had fostered a more open and interactive atmosphere in the house? Absolutely.

American Society: A Series on Observations #1

I am consistently surprised, usually unpleasantly, by small things I observe everyday and I figure that if I never take note of them, they'll just be forgotten. So instead of letting myself float back into ignorance about our most excellent society, I'll start a short, recurring series/list on my blog. 2 things for today:

1) Comment by Obama's Wife: Some of you may have noticed this in the news recently. She said "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my Country..."
Apparently, that's such a horrendously unpatriotic thing to say, according to knit-picky Republicans who have nothing better to complain about. Is it really such a sin to express a sense of overwhelming pride at a historic achievement? Granted, the connotation is there, but:

a) You get the gist of her statement, shut up already.
b) And so what if this was the biggest thing in her life so far? What has Clinton or Bush done that was nearly a social revolution?
c) *Sarcasm* That was such an egregious statement, clearly Obama will bring an unpatriotic witch into office with him. Oh noes!

My take: I am rather disgusted that something so innocuous merits headlines in major news, and attack by trigger-happy politicians.

2) So I'm driving into work today, and what doth mine eyes behold? A Hummer pulled over by a cop. Aside from the fact that it's good riddance, there was another thing found an amusing juxtaposition. Let me give you a bit of background.

When a cop pulls someone over, standard procedure is that he pull up behind the vehicle in question and veer slightly to the left. In that way, the nose of the cruiser just out into traffic slightly, forcing people to give the officer some room when he approaches he vehicle on foot. In this case, the Hummer was so fat, the police cruiser, aligned diagonally, was still diminutive compared to the width alone of the Hummer. Hell, it didn't even stick out past the edge of the Hummer much.

Why do people have to drive such fat and ridiculous cars, I ask? Are they planning on conquering the trails of the Appalachian? Or just navigating potholes on the Parkway? Because I guarantee you, the "Rockiest" thing most people will traverse here is "Rockaway." And that hardly merits a gas-slurping, toaster on wheels.

• If you want to burn gas, Ford has you covered.
• Need room? Borrow your mom's minivan.
• Need mileage with style? Get a motorcycle. Yep, because they're small, they can easily top 50 miles per gallon.

Oh yea, and what is this "luxury" business? I REALLY don't see what's so special about shelling out 70 thousand for a high-end car when I'd sooner go for a pimped-out Prius and have just about the same ride at half the price? I'd personally go for gadgetry over ass-warmers that come standard and automatic parallel parking for those of us not brave enough to face New York City streets unaided.

My take: Your choice to drive what you do, but I don't want to hear a thing from you when gas prices come back to bite you. And PLEASE, for the love of mankind, get rid off those annoying Halogen headlights!

Generic Entry # [I forget...]

So for lack of a better use for this blog, I guess I'll just use it like any other personal blog. Apologies to you Facebook stalkers who will see this as a pointless note. Now, without further ado, let's recap the past two weeks or so.

Monday, May 26, Memorial Day: What was today? Oh, right. My second real horrifying immersion in Michelle's household.Cold water + pool volleyball + her parental units... well I survived, didn't I? :)
Tuesday 27: First day of work. After much paperwork processing and waiting around, I get to my cubicle 2 hours late. Much sitting around doing nothing much in particular.
Wednesday - Friday: Repeat of day 1 minus the initial paperwork and waiting. No Internet access yet.
Weekend: Nothing at all out of the ordinary. Same, boring routine as usual.
Monday, June 2: Internet finally reaches my cubicle.
Tuesday 3: I get tasked with a menial Internet trawling assignment.
Wednesday - Friday: More of the same. But it has quickly become apparent to me that other countries don't want to make my job of information hunting any easier. Little progress made in my assignment(s). I tire quickly of sitting at a desk. I didn't exactly have this in mind when I chose engineering as my major... And where's my paycheck?
Saturday 7: Touching base with reality once more, after two mind-numbing weeks of work. This reminded me quite acutely of how much I miss being around people, and one person in particular (no need to get sappy now). Pool insanity FTW!
Sunday 8: OMG, I sooo did not want to set foot outside my door. It was an OVEN outside! And I don't want to go back to workkkkkkkkk!!!


Future: Only another week and a half of work before Alaska!