- Summer

Roughing It
by Summer Katz

         Lisa Smith enjoys an escapade to Alaska almost every summer. She works at a small gift shop in Talkeetna, Alaska, helping out some of her friends.
For the next four months, Lisa is going to be living by herself in a small cottage with no running water. Everyday she has to pump six buckets of water from a well outside of her house to wash her clothes and another six buckets to rinse her clothes. “It’s tough. It’s a hard life style. It’s simple. I\t’s real, that’s what I like about it,” Lisa said. Lisa rides her bike 5 miles from her cottage to work everyday. Biking 10 miles a day (to work and back home) isn’t always fun. “I’m really sore [when I ride my bike to work],” she said.        
         Even though Lisa is living alone in Alaska, she’s not completely by herself. Her sister also lives in Alaska. Lisa spends her free time with her sister as well as spending time with friends.
         In San Diego, California Lisa lives with her husband. Her only daughter recently graduated from high school and is now living in Olympia. She and her daughter have traveled to Alaska almost every summer for the last 10 years. “My daughter really loves it here too,” Lisa said.        
         “I’d like to live here eventually,” Lisa said. Her favorite part of Alaska is the wilderness. It’s one of her favorite places to go besides Baja, Mexico. The cold doesn’t bother her, but she would want to be prepared for the winter before it comes. “It’s [the winter’s] very nasty, the snow and darkness and everything,” Lisa said.        
         Lisa really loves Talkeetna. She loves how everybody is always there for each other and everyone is so close. “Everybody takes care of each other, it’s much better than San Diego”.