NOME – MIDNIGHT SUN

Cruise to Alaska, Twentieth century

In a cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage and its logical extension to mainland Alaska, one sees many things, among others in Vancouver a pastry shop called “Death by Chocolate”.  The name is perfectly suited, since all they sold there was chocolate in almost incredible different forms and shapes that could be qualified as divine and if death came then and there it would be welcome.  Fortunately there was no death and we could continue with the cruise, and I say we because I was travelling with one of my best friends, and that was great not only to exchange views about the landscape or the chocolate cakes, but also to be jointly surprised of the many things encountered.

I had never been close to a glacier, so all those we saw during the cruise looked just great, some more impressive than others, but great none the less, those huge masses of ice, white, blue or with moraines, which are dirty looking parts as the sand mixed during centuries that gives them that dirty aspect, moving non stop towards the sea. During the trip, at one point we were able to listen how one glacier broke, the noise sounded like an explosion, those monsters falling into the sea.  From the ship and well covered as it could be rather chilly even if it was summer, we saw seals on the ice platforms, sun bathing or freshening up, hard to say, looking after their families and looking at the tourists, probably the common pastime of all animals in our route, since just a we go to the zoo to see animals, they observe us from their homes and maybe even have a laugh at our multicoloured, varied and warm clothing as humans, no matter how well protected or endowed by nature we might be, we do not have enough natural fat as seals, polar bears or other Nordic animals.

Upon arrival to Anchorage, economic capital of Alaska, we rented a car to tour the inhospitable, arid and unknown land.  In many of the national parks of Alaska, one is not permitted to use private car, since the spaces are very big, deserted and can be dangerous, not only for the local fauna, but also for the humans venturing in there.  In one of them, before starting a tour, they gave us a small introductory chat where we were told that in case we found a bear, of the brown grizzlies that with a paw can cut you into ribbons and are totally wild and not necessarily used to humans, the best thing to do is to talk to them, even shout if needed and gesticulate, just in case, since they are not used to having their potential “lunch” talking back, so words, shouts are the main difference they can see between a nice and tasty snack or a not-to-be-eaten human arm. The best is not to encounter them, but just in case, be forewarned.  During the tour with a bus and warned not to take your head out of the windows, except in the pre-established stops, we saw wolves, moose and other animals with impressive horns or little ones of various types.

While in Alaska, we arrived to a town where they advertised flights over glaciers, and even landing on one of them. Both of us have relative adventurous streak so we seriously considered the option and there we go to the airport-office.  The planes could be considered big toys, with capacity for 4 to 6 passengers, and we were passengers 3 and 4. Shortly after we took off and up up and again, to the top of the huge mountains, all caped with pristine snow until we finally landed in the glacier very high up, and from there we could see the whole world and neighbouring mountains. Neither my friend nor I are renown for our sporting prowess but the simple fact of walking on the glacier left us speechless, and that is already a lot for both of us.  After a short while on the glacier we had to take again our toy plane since the pilots said that somewhere in the sky they could see a possible storm forming and they did not want to encounter it on our flight back, neither did we. Flying down was just as exciting; we saw where we had been and where we were going.  Back on land we took our car and continued to Fairbanks, very close to the Arctic polar circle and one of the main cities in Alaska. Other than the permafrost on the outskirts of the city, permafrost as the name implies is frozen earth that never melts, permanently frozen more or less solid, although walking on it is like walking on a soft cushion, but other than that we could be in any US city, although we noticed with great pleasure that the people in Alaska are different from the rest of the country, they are kind, well brought up and know how to say “thanks” and “please”.

Travelling on we made it to Nome, that became very famous due to the gold rush in the XIX century and also renown because it is the end station of the Iditarod, most famous dog race celebrating the pioneers that managed to take urgent medications to the town, fallen victim of an diphtheria epidemic.  We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and although the town is rather small, we took our time looking at the documents and photos of the famous race, photos of the beautiful and famous huskies with magnificent blue eyes, having a drink in the bar, etc. and at one point I started to feel tired, but we had not really done much but looking at the watch we were shocked to see it was 11.40 in the evening, almost midnight but with full sun shining and even warm. That was then midnight sun! On a board near the information office it was written “Next sunset will be July 28^th” and we were mid-June. On the other hand, in the winter they do not see the sun at all during long gray months. During daytime there is some light, but no sun.  I prefer half and half, not always sun but certainly not total absence of if. We visited many other places in Alaska, great place to visit. Maybe another story will come up later.