A Few of My Favorite Things
“These are a few of my favorite things…”
And now I’ll be singing songs from The Sound of Music all day long. There are worse things, I suppose.
But this post is not about awesome musicals—it’s about the top five things I like best about Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, right outside of Anchorage, Alaska.
1. You can navigate by star.
Before I got smart and downloaded Google Maps onto my phone, I got lost sometimes. And by sometimes I mean all the time. What can I say? I’m not so great at driving in the dark! Last Christmas when I picked up my family from the airport, I took a wrong turn and got all turned around. After 20 minutes or so of searching for a recognizable street name, I saw something even better—The Star on the Mountain. “I can follow the star!” I said to my dad, who probably thought I was nuts. And then he saw it, too. The Star on the Mountain is 117 feet in diameter, halfway up Mount Gordon Lyon. It is turned on the day after Thanksgiving and remains on until the last dog crosses the finish line of the Iditarod. It is also turned on for September 11th. And it makes a great navigation tool in dark winter months.
2. It is easy to be outdoors.
You wouldn’t think so, would you? “Oh, Alaska? Isn’t there five feet of snow on the ground all year?” No, not all year. Let me tell you about the summers here. Awesome doesn’t even come close to describing them. It’s not too hot (especially compared to the South), it’s sunny 20 hours a day, and there are biking and walking paths everywhere. Every neighborhood on post has several playgrounds, as well as sledding hills in the winter. It’s easy to be outdoors in the winter as well. Sledding, skiing, running down 5th Avenue with a herd of reindeer… There is always something to get you out of the house to knock out the winter blues.
3. It’s far from home.
This sounds like it would be a bad thing. But like almost everything in the Army, a silver lining can be found in it. Because Alaska is so far from family (parents, siblings, etc.) for most of us who live here, and plane tickets run upwards of $700 apiece, we tend not to visit the lower 48 as much as we did before. Because of this, I’ve met the most amazing friends up here. The way that people band together to help each other out, the camaraderie that we share, is unmatched at any duty station I’ve ever been before.
4. Fresh seafood.
‘Nuff said.
5. There is some amazing wildlife.
I have yet to see a bear in the wild, but regularly see moose in our neighborhood. I’ve seen photos of bears and cubs right down the street. (Obligatory PSA: Do not feed the bears!) Bald eagles? You can bring food to Notch and Jack, two injured eagles that live on JBER. Big Sarge is big into hunting and has brought home ptarmigan, which is a medium sized game bird, and also rabbit. If he cleans it, I will cook it. Tomorrow he goes out for the big one-bear. I told him that we aren’t leaving Alaska without a bear skin rug.
I may have mentioned it before, but Big Sarge was mad when he got orders for Alaska. Now, he’s wishing he could stay here for more than the three years the Army keeps him here. Alas, it is not to be. We shall content ourselves with enjoying the next year and a half that we have here before we go off on our next wild adventure.
