Have Dreams, Will Travel

We finally land. We exit the small cargo plane, soaking in as much of the sights as we can: mountains, trees, five story (at least) houses. We find a ride to our home stay for that week. My brother and I cannot believe it. We made it to Alaska! For years our father has been planting the seeds of Alaskan wonder in our minds and we were finally presented the generous opportunity to do so and satisfy our innate travel desire.

The car parks and we gaze at the extravagant wooden house that stands before us. Then we shift our stare of wonder at the forest which encircles it. Full of joy, I childishly exclaim cheer: "Let's go on an adventure!" I strap the baby I was given responsibility of, in exchange for this experience of Alaska, to her stroller and grab our backpacking gear: water bottles and a camera. Then we begin our quest.

As we cross a small creek, having already used half the camera's memory, and push deep into the heart of the forest, I realize I had not known the time since we left Florida. "What time is it?" I ask my brother. He checks his phone, "11:45." "Oh, it's early..." "No, 11:45 at night." I chuckle as I look straight up at the ever-shining sun. In disbelief, I turn my phone on to check his number reading skills. Sure enough, our "bright and early" trek had revealed itself as a midnight stroll.

We reach a hidden meadow and our eyes wildly search for a moose. We had hyped ourselves up pre-trip with the desire to see one and I had foolishly promised my friend a photo of me riding one as a souvenir (Okay, she asked me to ride one but I knew that was near impossible so we agreed that a simple photo of one would do). Upon landing in Alaska, however, the locals immediately discouraged our hopes of spotting one. It wasn't the proper season and, if we did so happen to have a chance encounter with one, it would be savagely dangerous. Despite these claims, we continued our search.

As we neared the center of the clearing, we began to lose hope in our mission. We had been walking for an hour and had yet to see so much as a bird. We considered giving up and returning home to sleep, or perhaps do some night sun-gazing. Then I saw it. A large, paradoxically majestic and simultaneously awkward beast, was standing just six feet away. My camera shot away as she moved around the clearing to reveal a wobbly calf. We were frozen in awe. And that was the first time I saw a moose, in just the first few hours of our Alaskan expedition.