{"id":281,"date":"2021-08-24T03:22:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T03:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monicajwilliams.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/24\/alaska-day-6\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T22:46:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T22:46:27","slug":"alaska-day-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monicajwilliams.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/24\/alaska-day-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska, Day 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scene: A coffee shop called\u00a0Resurrect Art and Coffee<\/a>. I sit in a leather armchair, finally warm after a damp day. Wood shelves lined the walls, and they were filled with all sorts of local creative works: paintings, greeting cards (my downfall), jewelry, used books, and even a small line of used clothing. I drink my tea and begin to write.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeet damp. Headache. Rain. Warm citrus tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d arrived there with less than an hour until closing. I chatted with the barista about their tea selection, and then, when I finally chose one, she surprised me by saying,\u00a0\u201cSure, my friend.\u201d I don\u2019t think anyone has addressed me as\u00a0\u201cmy friend\u201d before. Then, when she handed me the steaming mug, she said,\u00a0\u201cHere you go, my friend.\u201d So it wasn\u2019t a fluke.<\/p>\n

Something about calling me\u00a0\u201cfriend\u201d when she didn\u2019t even know me wiggled its way into my soul.\u00a0\u201cI belong here,\u201d I thought. I could greet myself every morning with that warm phrase,\u00a0\u201cHello, friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calling me\u00a0\u201cfriend\u201d made my day. Thank you.<\/p>\n

Before arriving at the coffee shop, I\u2019d visited\u00a0the Alaska Sealife Center<\/a>. It seemed like a good place to go on a drizzly day, my first since I began my trip.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

I watched the puffins play and dance in the water. What funny little birds they were!<\/p>\n

Then, I said hello to these creatures, watching them in their tanks for quite a while.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n
\"image\"<\/figure>\n

I looked into the eyes of a fish shaped like scotch tape and told it,\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it was the Giant Octopus clinging to the front glass wall of the tank that drew me in.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

The octopus simply rested there, suctioned to the glass with its huge head dangling below its body. I envied its quiet, peaceful power. Just resting. Being its octopus self. It was mesmerizing.<\/p>\n

I left the Sealife Center feeling warmer and somewhat drier than when I\u2019d arrived. The cold dampness had seeped into my bones from a guided hike I\u2019d done that morning.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d hiked from Lowell Point to Tonsina Point<\/a> and back again. My guide lived in Los Angeles most of the year and came to Alaska in the summer to be a guide. Generally, I wouldn\u2019t hike with a guide, but in Alaska, I didn\u2019t feel safe on my own. So, I hired a guide from Kenai Backcountry Adventures<\/a>. Lucky for me, I was the only one who\u2019d signed up, and they agreed to run the trip anyway. So, I got a personalized hike with lots of exploring and conversation.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Neither Monkey nor I could believe the crystal clear, aqua-tinted running along the trail. Later, I wrote,\u00a0\u201cWater in rivers and streams: so blue, glacier blue, deep aquamarine. Clear to the bottom. Mesmerizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

The soft, squishy ground reminded me of some of the hikes I\u2019ve done in the northwestern U.S. The undergrowth was foamier than carpet and so green it was almost neon. All around. No snakes. No bugs. No bear.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

The resident bear, whom the guide knew well, frequented this part of the river. I really, really wanted to see the bear, and my guide told me that they\u2019d seen him just the day before.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

After we left the bear\u2019s riverside gourmet restaurant (without seeing him),\u00a0another hiker came down the trail and warned us that he\u2019d seen a bear on the beach. I couldn\u2019t wait to see it, especially because both my guide and I were carrying bear spray and my guide knew that this particular bear wasn\u2019t known to be aggressive. Of course, I didn\u2019t want to get up close to it, but still, I wanted to see it.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

No bear here\u2026<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Or here\u2026<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Neat fungi! But, no bear.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

We stopped for lunch near this waterfall before heading out onto the beach, where, I was sure, I\u2019d finally see my bear.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

This is where the bear should have been\u2026.but he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

On the beach portion of the hike, I did see some amazing mollusks clinging to the rocks.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Eventually, we reentered the forest for the trek through the fantasy woods and back to the trailhead.<\/p>\n

Then, damp, cold, and thrilled to have been out on the trail, I set off into town to the Sealife Center, the coffee shop, Seward Brewing Company for dinner, and then my cozy yurt where I cuddled up under the blankets in the new sweatshirt I\u2019d bought and listened to the rain until I fell asleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scene: A coffee shop called\u00a0Resurrect Art and Coffee. I sit in a leather armchair, finally warm after a damp day. Wood shelves lined the walls, and they were filled with all sorts of local creative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41,43,42,29,33],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-alaska","tag-nonfiction","tag-seward","tag-travel","tag-wwol"],"yoast_head":"\nAlaska, Day 6 - Monica J. 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I sit in a leather armchair, finally warm after a damp day. Wood shelves lined the walls, and they were filled with all sorts of local creative...","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":286,"url":"https:\/\/monicajwilliams.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/27\/alaska-day-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":281,"position":0},"title":"Alaska, Day 2","author":"Monica Williams","date":"May 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My second full day in Alaska, I set out to explore downtown Fairbanks. It wasn\u2019t anything like I expected. I pictured a little area of shops around the river; I found more of a ghost town. 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