The loss of my previous draft of this post into cyberspace somewhat dimmed my desire to continue on a blow-by-blow of my trip to Alaska. How many times and in how many ways can I tell you about how amazing it was? As Susan said in her comment-- capturing the majesty/ grandeur of nature in words is almost as frustrating as capturing it in pictures. I think you probably got the general idea of how overwhelming it was in the first two entries. Suffice it to say it was amazing and you should go.
But I do want to tell you some of the funny things that happened. Towards the end of the trip we drove down to Homer and camped on the beach, which I highly recommend should you ever visit Alaska. It was wonderful and relaxing. Its a rock beach, which I actually like, although as an Alabamian I grew up spoiled with the beautiful white sand beaches we have here.
In Homer I went for a walk on the beach and sat for a while on a tree which had been cast on the beach by a storm. I watched a small sailboat running with the wind back in the harbor and thought about how different it would be to sail in Alaska than in Alabama. In Alabama, should you be so unlucky as to break down or flip your boat- eeehhh you'll probably survive as long as you keep your head. In Alaska, 15 minutes in the water even in summer and you're more likely than not a dead man. As I was sitting on the tree a sailor man came up and started talking to me. He was, as all sailors are, a yarn spinner and I let him tell me some good stories. He was also the person in the small sailboat who had just run back into the harbor.
The first story he told me was about working in the processing line after coming back in with a catch. There was a new guy on the line and he decided to mess with him (as one always does with the new guy). His job was to pull the fish and make the initial cut. New guy, who was a college boy and a biology major, had the job of pulling the guts. Sailor grabs two fish, makes the cuts quickly and puts two fish stomachs in one fish and sends it down the line. New guy gets so intrigued about the two stomached fish he gets his line all out of whack and fish are going everywhere.
Second story was about some people who rented a boat and took it out not understanding the waters well enough. They ended up capsizing and even though they were wearing float jackets everyone dies but the grandfather who managed to cling to the buoy marking the entrance to the harbor. Scary.
We then watched some strange hippie woman sitting on the beach knocking stones together and chanting. I felt like I was in California. We also felt a small earthquake and watched the waves change in response. Then I really felt like I was in California.
After Homer we drove back up the Kenai Pensula and got a hotel. Nice, clean, basic and the least expensive room we found anywhere at $100.00 bucks. It was a great day of walking around the lake and basically just relaxing. We went to the restaurant for dinner, which featured some good food, including the ubiquitous $ fish and chips...and $12.00 hamburger.... As we were sitting there a group of Hell's Angels rumbled up.
They came into the place and settled in behind us. They were in the Anchorage, Alaska chapter and were entertaining a visiting member from Norway. They were kind and polite to the waitress, ordered iced tea and soup and were having this fascinating conversation with the visiting Norwegian about Alaska and Norway and the economic and social differences between the two countries especially as related to the weather and the membership in the Angels. Apparently some of them had visited the Norwegian at some earlier point. At least one of the Americans spoke Norwegian as they had a conversation about the menu in Norwegian (or maybe German.) I really, really wanted to get up and ask them if I could sit with them and just listen because I found them so fascinating. I was with my friend, who is 6'4" and used to ride a Harley, so I figured he at least would be able to speak with them about bikes... But he said that was a very bad idea. So yeah, I decided to forgo that. I probably wouldn't have done it without him either, as playing with fire can get you burned. But I was totally not above drinking a beer and listening hard.
These guys were all business owners and were discussing the trials and tribulations of running restaurants and businesses- and what this place was doing right and wrong. Reminds you that you can't judge people by their outside- although, you do have to be wary of course- as one of the other stories was about one of the members who was not present, who many years ago had beat up the guitarist in Jefferson Airplane and how the Norwegian just had to meet him. His name was Animal. I am sure he earned it the hard way. I mean, how much of an Animal do you have to be for the Hell's Angels to call you Animal? After I got back home I saw a documentary on TV about the different patches on their vests/jackets and what they mean which I wish I had seen before hand as I couldn't remember at all which patches these guys had-- but they did have several of the extra patches of hard core members. Unfortunately, after a while some more of their friends showed up and they decided to all go sit in the bar where they could be alone.
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