Going alphabetically, the next stop in the Aerial America series is Alaska. But Alaska is such a HUGE state, they needed TWO episodes to cover it all. We watched both: Alaska’s Call of the Wild, and Alaska, Land of Fire and Ice. Yes, lots and lots of beautiful scenery, as would be expected, but you know what? After a while, there’s only so many snow-capped mountains you can look at. So it was nice when they broke it up with showing some of the wildlife, like big brown bears, and sea otters. Oh, those sea otters are so cute!
But that was not my main impression of Alaska. As you may know, I’m also a fan of the Living Alaska series on HGTV, and I think mostly I watch it because it’s so entirely different than anything I’m used to, and I just can’t imagine what goes through the minds of people who decide they want to live in Alaska. Now, the people who move into half-million dollar houses with heated floors and hot and cold running water, I can almost understand them, because you can stay in your nice cozy house and gaze out your huge picture window at the beautiful mountains enveloped in the aurora borealis. Ah, yes! I could do that. But the people who want to live in a log cabin with a wood burning stove and an outhouse that has to be connected to the main house by a rope, so you don’t lose your way in the middle of the night in the middle of a blizzard—sorry. Just don’t get it.
But that might say more about ME than it does about those kinds of people. And my main impression of these two Aerial America shows about Alaska left me saying the same thing over and over again: “That’s insane!!” First of all, you’ve got the people who run the Iditarod, days and days on end in the snow, in sub-freezing temperatures. You’ve also got the people who want to climb to the top of Mt. McKinley (see aforementioned comments about days on end in the snow and sub-freezing temperatures.) Or how about in Anchorage, where they have a sort of “Running of the Bulls” race, only they use the ever-ready Caribou instead. The challenge, of course, is to not be GORED by antlers.
I say again: That’s insane! And sorry…it’s not for me. But some folks like that sort of thing, and for those folks, I’m glad there’s Alaska, the country’s “Last Great Frontier.”
Watching these shows about Alaska, I lost count of how many superlatives we heard: the biggest this, the most that, more whatevers than anywhere else on earth. Alaska’s that kind of place. It’s awe-inspiring, outrageous, and absolutely beautiful. To watch for an hour or two from the comfort of your living room couch.
I would have liked to see more of the aurora borealis in these shows. That’s one thing that’s always fascinated me, and perhaps the only reason you could persuade me to make an actual trip to Alaska. Otherwise, my impression of our largest state with the most amount of glaciers and highest peaks and biggest vegetables grown during the shortest growing season, is that Alaska is a dangerous place. Beautiful, and dangerous. And maybe a bit more than just slightly uncomfortable. Watching these Aerial America episodes did nothing to dispel these impressions, it only solidified them in my mind.
I think next we go to…Arkansas? Where, offhand, the most dangerous thing I can think of is a Razorback. Now…that’s more like it!
MUST SEE OR DO: AURORA BOREALIS.
ALASKA, THE BEAUTIFUL:
