Alaska

First let me begin by saying that I love mountains. I absolutely adore them. I also happen to live in Illinois. Midwest = no mountains.  It's actually appalling.

This summer, I had the opportunity to visit an old family friend who had just moved to Alaska. I purchased a ticket and made my way up to the Last Frontier, not sure what to expect.

A six hour flight would answer that question.  I landed to mountains on the horizon and a murky daylight the clock said was 9:30 pm. The sun wouldn't set until 11.

Anchorage, the biggest and busiest city in Alaska was small. It resembled one of the bigger Chicago suburbs I am familiar with. There were hotels, shops, and museums.  One thing I found most charming about the city was the absence of sales tax.

Since only 730,000 people inhabit the expansive  state, everything is pretty spread out. For the 663,267 square miles of land, there are only about 15,000 miles of public roads in Alaska. So, it is commonplace to rely on small planes for transportation rather than cars.

Alaska had a heavy air of solitude. Looking out the window of the room I was staying in, I saw mountains. Neighborhoods where I was, just outside of Wasilla, were scattered and small. The beautiful landscape truly overtook the human architecture. I loved the weather. It was often cloudy, a lnd early August brought temperatures in the fifties and sixties. None of this humid and hot nonsense we get near Chicago.

The jumpsuit you feel way more bad-ass than you look.

As for what I did on my trip, I relaxed. I sat outside and wrote. I drank tea. I enjoyed the fresh air and the beauty.

Don't worry. I also went skydiving, hiking, and glacier climbing.

Obviously, falling from a plane over a landscape of mountains was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen. Skydiving may have changed my life, because I find that fewer things scare me. Jumping out of a tiny plane at 11,000 feet can do that to you.

Alaska Skydive Center is the only place to skydive in Alaska, and it was only a short drive from where I was staying. Luckily, my hosts are seasoned jumpers with almost 300 jumps under their parachutes. 

I surprised myself by only experiencing mild jitters. I half expected myself to freak and demand to be landed, but once you're sitting on the plane's foothold and about to fall, there's no going back. That instant you jump, you realize you're falling and there's absolutely nothing around you. It's unforgettable, and now I know I need to find it again. My tandem and I ended up flipping in the because I failed to enter the correct posture right away, but that really only added to the fun. I don't think that will be the last time I skydive.

If you're looking for a wonderful trip to a clean, quiet place, head to Alaska. I know my post is a month after I got back, but it was such an incredible trip that I had to have a whole entire month to reflect slash I was lazy and also busy starting school. My experience in Alaska was one of the best trips I have been on, and I think that one day I could move there.