Alaska and Other Such Travels

The few snow flurries we have been having here in the Chicago area have got me excited about one of my favorite winter activities – snowboarding! I love to snowboard. In high school growing up, we had a ski hill five minutes down the road, well actually, it is more like an old gravel pit that they installed some ski lifts on, but my friends and I would go almost every night. The snow was usually icy or grassy or both and it took about 12 seconds to snowboard down to the bottom, but I loved it.

It is funny, because the first time I went snowboarding, I hated it. It was hard to stand, go, and steer, and falling really, really hurt. My parents must have been out of ideas on what to get me for Christmas that year, however, because surprise, surprise, they got me a snowboard! Now that I was obligated to go, I tried it one more time and guess what? I still hated it. My board got frozen into the lock thing when we went in to eat and my friend had a stupid rental board that had step in bindings that we couldn’t figure out how to lock. I don’t know why we went back for a third time, I honestly have no idea why, but for whatever reason, we did.

Third time really is the charm, because after that, I was hooked. Snowboarding in Illinois and then in Ohio is boring unless you become creative. Don’t go around that patch of grass – see if you can jump over it! That rail doesn’t look too hard, that random stranger just went on it perfectly – I bet I can too! Do you think I can jump that fence – watch me try! Something about the speed and the thrill of launching yourself into the air is just addicting. Sure, the small contests and big jumps were fun, but the most fun I had was when a group of us were just messing around on the hill being silly. Our favorites were spinning in circles for a while and then seeing how far you could go without falling over and playing tag with a big group.

Sure, I got hurt a few times (It was only a few times Dad, I swear!), but it was worth it. I once fell so hard on my butt that I got an enormous hematoma, which after a month of not getting any better, had to be surgically removed. The swelling was so bad that it hurt to walk and anything other than sweatpants put to much pressure on it. I only owned three pairs of sweatpants, luckily though, I was in college, and if anyone noticed that I rotated three different pairs of pants for a month, no one said anything. I would also take control of the common room TV so I could watch cooking shows for hours on end (and I don’t even cook), because it hurt too much to do anything much else. The girls on my floor probably hated me, but one dirty look from me was enough to send them on their way.

My stepsister and I at the peak of Whistler Mountain

My next foray into snowboarding was when I started to travel in search of better mountains. A trip to Colorado was the first vacation I took solely for the purpose of snowboarding, and after that first trip, I have returned several times. Colorado is always fun and you can pretty much guarantee that you will have a good time snowboarding. I remember when my dad came with me out to Breckenridge. Since he is not a big skier, he spent most of the time at the top of the mountain lodge enjoying the sun and drinking beer. What he failed to remember is that even though it is winter, that sun is fierce when it reflects off the snow and he was beet red after day one!

I love to snowboard because of the travel involved and the new places and new people you get to see. When we went to British Columbia I remember driving an hour out of our way on the way back because my stepsister really wanted to see the ocean. We were already cutting it close to catch our plane when we found a park that butted up to the ocean water. Deciding to risk it, we ran the length of the park to the pier at which point she stuck her hand in the water and commented, “Well, it feels just like any other water,” before we sprinted back. In Canada I got to see beautiful scenery and wildlife, when I went to Lake Tahoe, we stayed in Reno, Nevada and I got to gamble and saw some hookers. You just never know what you are going to find when you travel to new places.

It amazes me the variety of different cultures you can find within the United States alone. A college roommate of mine has family living in Alaska, so one winter break, we packed up and flew to Alaska for the month. We had no plans and very little money, but we at least had a couch to sleep on every night and we had our snowboards. We stayed in the Matanuska Valley, which consisted of the towns of Wasilla and Palmer, about an hour outside of Anchorage. We were there in the winter, so the sun rose at about 10am and went down around 4pm. As soon as we could, we would go out and look for places to snowboard or something fun to do. Sometimes we took snowmobiles (or snow machines as they called them) and sometimes we just took the car out and drove around. One popular place we went to had us park the car up top, snowboard down, and the hitchhike back up to the top.

View from the top of the world

My favorite experience was when we started as early as we could in order to climb this peak. The snow was so deep and the peak was so steep, you had to use your snowboard as a climbing tool: Jam it into the snow above you, pull yourself up, and repeat. I was very winded and the sun was already starting to set by the time we made it to the top. Finally strapped in, I started down the mountainside. Up to this point, I had never had much experience riding powder. My board just slid over the snow so that I felt like I was floating and all around me I could see the other peaks – I felt like I was on top of the world and had the biggest, stupidest grin on my face I am sure. But as I said before, I did not have that much experience with powder, or really deep snow. On around my fourth turn I must have turned to tight or maybe I did not have enough weight in my back leg because I was too busy ogling the view, but suddenly my board had about a foot of snow piled on its nose and I was stuck. Do you know how hard it is to get your board out of deep snow and then try to stand up and try to get going again? Every time I put my hand down to push myself back up, I sunk even deeper. By the time I got up, I was so angry and sweaty that I no longer cared about the damn view, I just wanted to get to the bottom of the stupid mountain. (I got stuck two more times before I reached the bottom, by the way).

I snapped this picture as we were leaving the mountain for the night

I got better with practice – thank god – and Alaska still stands out to me as an amazing place. It wasn’t just the snowboarding either; sometimes at night we would set up a tent and go ice fishing or tie up a sled to a snowmobile and take turns pulling each other around. Once a windstorm came through that was so strong that we were able to hold sheets together with rope and sit on a sled so that it would drag us around. We also drove out to the frozen beach once where an old air force base used to be. Once we found an old mattress and everyone got really excited. I was really confused until they tied the old mattress to the bumper of a car and we took turns sitting on the mattress and being dragged around – it was like water tubing behind a boat, but probably more dangerous and stupid. I was usually almost always cold, not so much in the day when you are moving around, but at night. I perfected the art of sleeping in a ball and pulling the blankets over my entire body like a tent. I don’t think I will ever snowboard in a place again that is so different and so beautiful and wild.

Me in the middle of the frozen ocean while out exploring one day

Another place I travelled to that I fell in love with immediately is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I first went to Jackson Hole to snowboard and loved the feel of the town of Jackson and enjoyed meeting fellow snowboarders. The mountain and the different terrain offered through the accessibility of the lifts provided amazing snowboarding. The first time we took the tram to the top of the peak, they jammed us in so we were standing like sardines and then the doors wouldn’t close because they were still kind of frozen. They told the people near the doors to just help hold them shut and then the tram started its journey for the top. Every pillar we went over caused the tram to first nosedive downward and then rise back up, like a ship going over a big wave. I would have fallen over, but we were packed in so tightly that I had nowhere to go anyway.

Stopping for a break halfway down the mountain in Jackson Hole

On top of the peak, the wind was blowing so hard you could not see. I loved it. There is nothing more exhilarating standing on top of a mountain peak, with nothing above you but the sky as the wind whips around you. I can understand the lure of mountain climbing. The journey down was full of 57-degree incline, cliff faces, and the most wonderful snow ever. Compared with where I grew up, I could not imagine living in Jackson Hole area and having this type of experience available to you every day. I would imagine that Chicagoans would be a lot less stressed if they could journey out to the mountains every weekend and just enjoy the wildness of it all.

Our last day we took a few turns through the trees and some freshly falling snow - there is nothing else in the world like it!

When Michael and I went back to the area during the summer, it was even better. People were kind and courteous and were never rushed. They did not have a strict agenda, but they got their work done and enjoyed life while doing it. One of the first nights we were out there, we went to the town of Moose (which consists of about 5 buildings) because the local bar was having a hootenanny. We got there around 8pm and listened to a lot of good music and everybody in the bar seemed to know each other. It was around 9pm and we were settling in for a fun night when the bar called last call. 9pm! I guess this was the real deal; cowboys and wranglers had to be getting up early the next morning!

It was kind of nice though, we went back to our cabin and realized that the stars were so bright and clear that you could see the Milky Way. On one of our rides, one of the chefs from the kitchen joined us and when we stopped for a break and sat out on this ledge overlooking the river we got to talking. She was originally from Michigan, but came out here to work for the summer and just revive and refresh. She told us how refreshing it was to wake up, do your job, and then take some time to enjoy nature. No worrying about deadlines or inter-office drama. She made it a point to not watch any TV or read the news. And then I realized, that is how it probably is for most of the people living out here. Sure, I’m sure there are still times of stress and trouble, but when you’re out here, it is easy to relax and recharge. It is hard to keep worrying about paychecks or bills when a bald eagle is soaring overhead or you just spotted a herd of antelope running through the plains.

Even though we don’t have in Ohio and Illinois the amazing scenery that Wyoming offers, I still try to keep that realization with me – that life is what you make of it. You could let the stress and worry take over, or you can take the time to just sit and enjoy the world around you for a second. And do you know what? This summer, right before I was leaving Ohio and stressing about the move to Chicago, I sat on the porch swing at the barn before I left for the night and took some time to just listen to the birds and the wind in the trees and watch the horses in the pasture. Finally able to let myself relax, I looked up and realized that the large bird sitting on the tree branch was a bald eagle. First one I have ever seen in Ohio.