1 May 2010 Where is Alaska? Where is the town?

I'm squinting my eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the final frontier. The clouds are dark, heavy, thick. The pilot had announced we would be landing ten minutes ago. Where was Alaska? Though we'd been flying over it for the last few hours, I had yet to see it. My eyes had been pasted to the cool window for a chance break in the clouds but I still had not seen this wilderness. Then, finally, just before landing, our plane broke through the clouds and there, not far below us, were the trees, more trees, and even more trees. The buildings of the town of Fairbanks barely registered as I admired the vast expanse of trees stretching along the rolling scenery below us.

This set the theme for my first days in Fairbanks, Alaska.

A friend kindly picked me up from the airport and quickly whisked me through what seemed like a never-ending forest to his house, a solid, beautiful abode nestled in the trees.

After catching up we drove, once again through dense collections of trees spanning in all directions, to pick up supplies from one of his colleague's houses, another solid, though slightly bigger, house surrounded once again by trees.

Moving on, we drove through another area of Fairbanks, another nonstop grouping of these tall, skinny, leafy poles to a little get-together at an even bigger, more solid, log-cabin mansion. The views from the gigantic windows were beautiful; trees spread out in all directions; spruces, birches, and aspen were peacefully surrounding us, keeping us cozy on all sides.

Only the next day, after a wonderful 4-hour hike down and back up a rather steep hill, Ester dome, a brush and tree covered landmark nearby, did I start to really wonder, "Where is the town?".

I had yet to see shops, a street of strip malls or connected buildings, and a parking lot with more than two cars in it.  We got on bikes and only then did I catch my first glimpse of the town. High on another hill, looking out over a sea of yes, trees, I caught a peek at a sign of a town. There, in the midst of the forest I saw the golden M of a McDonald's. This symbol of fast food, concrete, and America didn't seem to fit with all the beautiful, peaceful, wild nature but then, where has McDonald's not invaded? Later that night, we drove to dinner at a restaurant; no, not McDonald's, and yes, Fairbanks has a Walart, a Subway, and a small section of town that includes rows of buildings, giant parking lots full of cars, simple apartment buildings, and stores like every other city.

A bit sad to have to stay in this section of town, but still enchanted with the nature just a bit away, I was ready to start my real adventure. I was ready to start my training with PolarTREC to go to an even more remote place, ANTARCTICA!

What else can you learn about Fairbanks? Play around here for more information: http://www.explorefairbanks.com/