- Emily

Alaska Is...

       Alaska is a place of beauty, grace, and splendor.  Where the hours slip by as you drive along the roads seeing the life here that no one really truly knows is there.  From the biggest, whitest mountain to the crystal blue waters, you find a peaceful scene unfolding before your eyes.  Alaska is everything my grandfather told me it was; he once showed me pictures of the oceans and mountains.  While my family gazed at the photo’s he said to me, “this doesn’t even compare to the real thing.”  He was right about that; it really doesn’t.  So life will never give you the real beauty with held here in Alaska, you have to buy yourself a plane ticket, rent a car, buy a tent, and then g off with that tent, a few days worth of clothes in the trunk, a map, and some reservations at campsites to really see what Alaska really is. 

Final Reflections

         I seems like I was just hugging my parents and jumping onto a bus, only to have six hours go by, sitting and waiting.  For weeks I waited in anticipation of who my drivers were, what my van would be like, and how well I would be at the leader thing.  Looking back on everything that I have done on this trip is amazing.  I never thought in a million years would I see Alaska, and now I can say that I have been to Alaska not once but twice.  It was fun to tell stories of when I first came to the participants and to return to all of the places I loved so much.  Every time I come here I always get to see something new, like wolves or killer whales.  Or even Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park.  I love Alaska, and everything I could possible say about this beautiful place, couldn’t be put into words.  A trail, ship, or tour bus is no way to see this magnificent place.  You have to go off and go on the back roads to see the true beauty of Alaska.  Alaska is like a second home for me and I love it when it’s here and really miss it when I’m gone.