The word I’ve chosen for this year — not just for the trip, but for the whole year — is Discovery.
I said it standing in a coffee line in Alaska with bad hair, which is probably the correct context for making that kind of declaration. It covers what I’m doing out here and also what I’m trying to do in a broader sense: discover what comes next, discover how I want to tell stories, discover what this country actually looks like up close rather than from a distance. Discovery. That’s the frame.
Now let’s go find some stuff.
On Airbnb and the Original Idea
I’ve been thinking about the place I’m staying and what it represents. The Airbnb model, the original version, was someone renting out a room in their house to make ends meet or just to meet people. This one is that version — my own entrance, someone’s house right there, a working-class neighborhood where I feel safe and the mountains are visible from the corner down the street. It beats paying five hundred dollars a night for a downtown hotel I don’t particularly like. I’d rather help out a family in Anchorage than a corporate hospitality group. That’s just where I land on it.
Also I’ve already decided I could publish a coffee table book called Images From the Car and fill it entirely with what I’ve been shooting through windshields on this trip. Terabytes of the stuff. Not necessarily bad. Just very much from a car.
Floatplane Park
I hit Whalinn Off Park — something like that, I’ll put the right name in — and watched floatplanes land. There’s something genuinely hypnotic about floatplanes. The angle of approach, the way they drop onto the water and settle, the particular kind of aviation that only makes sense in a place with this many lakes and this few roads. I could have stayed longer. I had a list of places to get to.
The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
The bear is what I need to tell you about.
The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center isn’t a zoo exactly — it’s a rescue and rehabilitation facility where animals that can’t survive in the wild are cared for in large natural enclosures. I wasn’t expecting to be moved by it. I was expecting to see some animals, take some photos, check the box.
Then a brown bear walked up to the electric fence about ten feet in front of me.
Not moving like a zoo animal moves, which is to say heavily and without particular purpose. Moving like a bear moves when it’s going somewhere, which is to say like something that could end the conversation at any moment and knows it. He walked past without looking at me directly and that felt somehow more alarming than if he had. There isn’t any bear spray in the world that would have made me feel anything other than small in that moment. Respectful is the word. You come away from something like that understanding on a cellular level why these animals were here long before we were.
I stood there after he’d moved on and tried to figure out what to say on camera and couldn’t come up with anything useful. Some things just land differently in person.
I also saw musk oxen, wood bison, moose, and various other residents of the facility. All impressive. The bear was the one that stayed with me.
The Waterfall U-Turn
I drove past a waterfall twice without stopping, which is exactly the kind of thing I keep telling myself not to do. On the second pass I made the U-turn, pulled over, got the tripod out, F22, quarter second, ISO as low as it would go, no ND filter needed. That waterfall. Here’s what it looks like.
Some things you just have to stop for. That’s the lesson. Always has been.
The Overlook
I ended the day at a viewpoint above the city that I found by accident, which is frequently how the best things happen. The airport below, the city spread out to the south, and in every other direction — mountains. I don’t know their names. I stood there on what I’m fairly confident is a compass rose of peaks and tried to make sense of the scale of it and couldn’t.
Alaska is like no place I’ve ever been. I could compare it to Switzerland or Iceland or the North of Norway. It’s none of those things. It’s itself.
I’m glad I didn’t wait to come here. Denali next.
In Episode #15 of my 50 at 60 journey, I spend an entire day exploring the diverse and captivating city of Anchorage, Alaska. The day begins with visits to some of the city’s beautiful parks and a stroll along the waterside, where I admire the unique architecture. Midday brings an emotional challenge as I encounter the stark reality of homeless tents in downtown Anchorage. Despite this sobering experience, I continue my exploration along the Seward Highway, ending the day with a breathtaking and inspirational view of the city, harbor, and surrounding mountains. Join me for a day of contrasts and reflections in this remarkable Alaskan city.
