Sunday, August 3, 2008

Wild Alaska

I recently took a break from work to visit the Great State of Alaska.

I went up to visit my friend Tina, who I met in law school and with whom I initially traveled to Alaska after the Michigan Bar Exam in 2003. A bit about Tina. She's brave. She's adventerous. She talks to strangers. She does things I have to Google to understand. Skijoring. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skijoring Dipnetting http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/fishing/dipnetting/index.html She loves Alaska and plans to be there for good. I'm lucky to have a good friend in such a beautiful place.


In addition to hanging out with Tina and meeting her friends and beau, we also saw two concerts. Which bands, you ask? Only one. Wilco. Two nights in a row. (Excessive, you say? Bordering on obsessive? Bah.)

The band would play their first night in Fairbanks. Having never been there, I decided to fly straight there to check out the town before the show. After quickly realizing there was not much to see in Fairbanks itself - mostly McDonalds (I saw at least 3) - I headed out of town on Alaska Highway 3 in hopes of catching a glimpse of Mt. McKinley (Denali, as it's called locally) even though it was probably a hundred miles away.

I never saw what was obviously a 20,000 foot mountain, but I did see several nice vistas along the way.



Tina had (wisely) stayed in Anchorage (working) while I explored Fairbanks. Later in the day, I picked her up from the airport and we headed straight to the venue. The most unlikely of venues, I might add.



We were close to the stage; I was loving every minute. And, thanks to Tina's keen eye, I snagged this souvenir. (For those not as crazy as me, it's a set list - very valuable :) )


That night, we stayed in the cabin of a friend of Tina's.


We flew to Anchorage the next day for that night's show. Anchorage has been having a soggy, cold summer. The evening of our show was no exception. I didn't take any of my own photos, but found this video on You Tube. Check out all the soaked fans. If you watch closely at the end, a brown haired head pops into view in the lower right corner. Me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvxstHg4_Y0