What a growing up experience this was. I boarded a plane to Anchorage around 5pm,
flew through the Lake Clark Pass, which incidentally was a beautiful flight, if
only I wasn’t writhing in pain… Anyways, landed in Anchorage an hour and a half
later, only to be picked up by a Park ranger who had left earlier, and then
dropped off at the ER! ALONE. Not quite what I expected, but hey, I’m 23,
shouldn’t have expected them to take care of me.
Several hours later, diagnosis was inconclusive, but my pain
went away, so they sent me home. I ended
up staying in a hotel for the night, on my own again, and man, it was
great! I was back in the city! After being in P.A. with no city life at all,
this was a nice break. There were cars,
and streetlights and traffic and restaurants, I was happily overwhelmed.
The next morning I met up with Ranger Chris! When he's not being a park ranger he's in Anchorage, but really Girtwood (a city just outside of Anchorage) working as a firefighter.
We ended up going to coffee, at Kaladi Brothers (not my first choice, I
was looking forward to Starbucks, but alas, it was still really good). It was great to see him again. We just kind of drove around Anchorage a bit
and then he dropped me off at Fred Meyer, where I was supposed to meet the
other ranger to head home. I did some
grocery shopping, quite a relief after having to rely on other people to take
care of my shopping for the last 2 months, and just soaked up the feeling of
civilization.
Then it was time to head to the hanger and get the plane
ready. My first bush plane flight. All the other planes I’ve been on have had
seats for over 6 people. Not this one, with all the seats it could
hold 4 tops, but not with any cargo.
Quite an experience. It was so
small! And took forever and a day to get
ready (although in retrospect, I’m glad it took a while, just to make sure it
was safe and all). After a brief safety
lecture, which scared the heck out of me, I mean really, the pilot was telling
me about what to do in case of emergency or a crash, like I’d remember all that
he told me (gah!), we were on our way.
The weather had been great all day, but as soon as we got in the air, we saw rainclouds. We could hardly see the mountains. But Rich, my pilot/ranger, was able to navigate through, and once we reached the pass, the rain had cleared.
It was gorgeous! Just
to see glaciers, mountains, rivers, and waterfalls was amazing. I’d wanted to get out in the park by air, so
I guess this was how it was going to happen.
Everything happens for a reason right?
Perhaps horrible stomach pains were my body’s way of saying…”This is
your chance! Get out!” And I did, and even thought it was only for a day, I still got to
get out and see things that I wouldn’t have if I’d just stayed in my apartment
all day feeling sick.
This Alaskan Adventure is sure providing some memories!
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