Head Out: Grass is sometimes greener Outside

Head Out

[ With Melissa DeVaughn ]

Published: August 21st, 2008 04:15 PM
Last Modified: August 21st, 2008 05:41 PM

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"Alaska, it's a love-hate relationship."

That's what a friend said this morning when asking how I felt about being back in Alaska after nearly three weeks in the Lower 48.

He couldn't have spoken truer words. In that simple six-word sentence, he summed it up perfectly. Here is a country that is so unspeakably beautiful yet so frustratingly unpredictable, it can make a person crazy.

At times I've felt superior in the knowledge that only the lucky get to live here. At others I've felt foolish, sensing that the rest of the world has so much to offer, too, and that in being a stubborn "Alaskan," I'm missing out on so much more.

Being away for three weeks did not really resolve the issue, either. For sure, Alaska is a place like no other. The scenery is astounding, the people are friendly and the attitude is one of self-sufficiency that I respect. Kayaking a hidden cove, hiking a remote valley, mushing a moonlit trail -- these are all moments tucked safely away, reminding me why I stay here year in, year out. It's a lifestyle that is truly unique.

But there is so much more out there, too. The striking deserts of the Southwest, the gentle mountains of the Southeast, the rolling countryside of the Northwest. Alaska is a natural beauty, but there are other places, too, where the outdoors will take your breath away.

While in the Lower 48 this time, I had just such a moment. I took part in a 100-mile road cycling event that challenged riders to cover nine mountains in two states, climbing more than 13,000 feet in elevation.

Driving to the remote starting point -- a tiny community high school tucked deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia -- I inched up impossibly steep two-lane roads that twisted and turned with such ferocity, I wondered if my car tires would stay on track. The narrow roads were lined with mountain laurel, and when the view opened up, the mountains seemed to go on forever, in soft blue silhouettes against the sky.

Moments later, I was cycling these very roads and thinking, "Alaska has nothing to these climbs." Just finishing the event was an accomplishment.

Nowhere is the "perfect" place to live, and for many, Alaska is an utterly unfathomable choice. There is the disagreeable weather, the long, dark days and the faraway distance that makes a simple weekend away a complicated endeavor.

But there are those occasional gorgeous sunny days that make up for so much, and the fresh-snow powder that makes winter skiing so perfect. There are those sunny summer nights that seem to go on forever, and those "in-your-backyard" adventures that can be pieced together in an instant. You just can't get that anywhere else.

Tell someone you're from Alaska, and the responses are usually one extreme or the other: a dreamy, wild-eyed envy or an "Are you crazy?" stare.

I've been the recipient of both responses and still have not reconciled which way I feel myself. But, day in, day out, I remain, like so many others, unwilling or unable to risk what "could be" somewhere else.

? Play outdoor columnist Melissa DeVaughn can be reached at adn.com/contact/mdevaughn or call 257-4482.

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