As I sat by the window at my Red Roof Inn (or just “Red Roof” as it’s called now), I couldn’t help but feel excited for the day ahead. I was heading to Alaska! A landscape photographer’s dream, especially during this time of year when the days are long, and the light is golden. After a quick breakfast, it was time to catch the shuttle and start the adventure.
State three. Alaska!
I landed and immediately started freaking out. That’s the accurate description. Mountains visible from the rental car lot, snow on the peaks, the whole thing arriving at once as I drove away from the airport. I kept saying Alaska out loud to myself like I needed the confirmation.
I’m in Alaska. I’m actually in Alaska.
The Airbnb
The Airbnb I’d booked was — let me be diplomatic here — characterful. Off the beaten path was an understatement. I was somewhere in a rural neighborhood with a muddy driveway, what appeared to be the remains of a snowmobile out back, and a Murphy bed that folded out of the wall and occupied approximately the entire square footage of the main room. Kitchen, bathroom, the bed. That’s the floor plan.
I was not going on the trampoline in the yard.
It was clean. It was cheap. I was only there to sleep and regroup between driving. On that basis, mission accomplished.
Beluga Point and the Seward Highway
I wasn’t going to stay in the Airbnb and read pamphlets. I got back in the car.
The Seward Highway runs south from Anchorage along the Turnagain Arm, one of the more dramatic stretches of road in a state full of dramatic road stretches. Beluga Point was my first pulloff — there are beluga whales in these waters, and the pull-off looks across the arm at waterfalls dropping straight off the opposite cliff face. The wind was trying to take the car door off when I opened it. I got out, took some shots, got back in, noted that I was not adequately prepared for this particular level of wind, and kept driving.
The mountains here have permanent snow on the peaks even in late May and I kept stopping for them anyway. Snowcap mountains do something to me that I’ve never quite gotten over. I come from Florida. We don’t have those. Every time one appears I’m slightly surprised it’s real.
The Discount Glacier Tour
I’ll tell you exactly what happened at Portage Glacier: I drove to the visitor area, it was raining sideways, the visitor center was closed, and I looked at the glacier from inside the car. Ten seconds. I noted that it was a glacier, that the ice was a particular shade of blue-white that photographs can’t quite reproduce, and that there was no way I was walking a mile or two in that rain with those wind conditions to stand next to it.
This is the discount glacier tour. Alaska from the car. Come for the scenery, stay because it’s thirty-eight degrees and blowing forty miles an hour.
I regret nothing.
Halibut Cheeks
Dinner was halibut cheeks — which I’d never had, and which I will now seek out everywhere I go for the rest of my life. The texture is almost stringy but in the best possible way, somewhere between crab meat and fish, sweet and tender, cooked in a breaded preparation with a sauce that I did not ask enough questions about. French onion soup to start. I sat there afterward thinking that Alaska had already been worth it purely for the halibut cheeks, which is not something I expected to think on day one.
Chasing Light Until Almost 11 p.m.
The Land of the Midnight Sun. I kept forgetting that the light wasn’t going anywhere. I drove around after dinner still chasing the sun — Kincaid Park behind the airport, which disappointed me in ways I can’t fully explain, then up into the hillside neighborhoods overlooking the water, then a boardwalk at the edge of town where the wind had one more crack at me before I gave up and went home.
It was 10:45 when I finally accepted the light was softening enough to call it a day. A 60-year-old man wandering around a rental car in Alaska looking for light at 10:45 p.m. That’s the trip. That’s what this year is.
More tomorrow. The light situation here is going to require adjustment.
In Episode #14 of my 50 at 60 journey, I document an exciting travel day as I visit Alaska for the first time! Upon arriving in Anchorage, I hit the ground running, starting with a tour of my quaint and charming Airbnb. Join me as I sample the stunning scenery along the Seward Highway and enjoy a delightful dinner at Simon and Seafort’s. The adventure doesn’t stop there—I continue to chase the light after dinner, capturing breathtaking photographs and images along the way. Experience the beauty and wonder of Alaska with me in this unforgettable episode.
