In 2000, the gift we gave Uncle Ted for his high school graduation present was a trip to Alaska. None of us had been there, so it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate. We flew into Fairbanks and traveled a bit north of that city but mostly south to Seward and Homer, both at the end of peninsulas. The scenery and wildlife everywhere were breathtaking! We toured museums and national parks, visited gardens and local craftsmen, and listened to informative high school students who served as guides on the train between Fairbanks and Anchorage. Out of Seward, we went on a catamaran (two-hulled boat) to see the fjords and a glacier calving; that’s when huge chunks of ice split off and fall into the ocean. The intense blue of the glaciers and the loud roar of the ice calves falling grabbed my heart; I’d never seen anything like that! We witnessed the 20,000’ majesty of Mt. McKinley (now named Denali), with its snowcap glistening on sunny days. Alaska is such a vast state that we could only visit part of it; we came …show more content…
We ate in local restaurants and tried local foods (like reindeer sausage and, of course, fresh salmon). We met travelers from all over the world, but were most surprised at how many Midwestern farmers were touring Alaska. Were they attracted by how large flowers and vegetables get in the 24-hour sunlit days there? I don’t know. When we were staying in the Denali National Park, Ted asked whether he could go for a helicopter ride, getting closer to the mountain peak. The fee was quite high, but we agreed that he could go without us. Off he flew with the pilot and a few other tourists. From the moment he came back, he didn’t “come back to earth.” He was so excited about what he experienced that we heard about it for days. He talked about seeing dozens of caribou, a grizzly bear and cubs, icy blue glacial ponds, steep cliffs and glaciers, as well as a tent and campfire that he spotted way out in the
Task/Activity: Instead of taking a spelling test, students in both classes jumped right into PARCC preparation. Students received a packet containing a reading selection from the novel A Woman Who Went to Alaska and multiple choice questions that was included on the 2015 PARCC and released to the public. Students read the packet and answered the questions independently before the class reconvened, discussing the reading and its questions as a group. Following this activity, students worked together in pairs to write down the challenges they faced while completing the packet and identify the skills they still need in order to succeed on the PARCC exam. After this, the class received a packet titled “Ruby Bridges: Girl of Courage,” and were instructed to complete the first task, which including reading and annotating as well as completing four questions about the passage. The rest of the packet would be completed in stages during the following week.
Peter. "Chris McCandless from an Alaska Park Ranger's Perspective." Chris McCandless from an Alaska Park Ranger's Perspective. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
About fifty miles long, along the coast of southern Alaska lay a scenic destination. A bay filled with glaciers that tell
It was 1927 in the small town of Eagle, Alaska, when the story of Anne Hobbs took place. Anne was a nineteen-year-old elementary teacher from Colorado and by her attendance to a lecture at her school by the territorial commissioner of education, she found that there was an open position to teach children in Chicken, Alaska. Anne was convinced that going to Alaska sounded “exciting and adventurous” so she signed up and she went off. Author, Robert Specht, and Anne herself, tell the story of Tisha, the story of Anne’s struggles and adventures in Alaska, and how she went from a cheechako to a “true-blue” Alaskan.
Chris McCandless, all throughout his Alaskan adventure, showed the transcendental quality of striving to live closer to nature. One great
Lewis wrote in his journal that it was “the grandest sight” that he had “ever beheld.” Today much of the landscape the Lewis and Clark crossed remains unchanged. The dense forest, rugged mountains, and rushing rivers are still abundant with fish and other wildlife. The river canyons, mountains meadows, and Great Plains of Montana have earned the state the unofficial nickname of the “last best place.” (Av2 books).
To me, the drive felt like forever even though it was only 35 miles from Petoskey to Mackinaw City. As 10-year-old me sat in the back seat of my mom’s car, I remember repeatedly asking the question most parents dread to hear, “are we almost there?” Every time I asked she would shake her head in bemused frustration and respond, “you’ll know when we get there”. At the time, I was not sure what I was most excited for: the ride on the ferry, the big horses, the historical fort, the inevitable delicious ice cream; it all sounded whimsically amazing and I could not be more excited to arrive on Mackinac Island.
...costing, hot weather, regular, lay on the beach vacation, I suggest taking a trip to Key West, Florida, but for those outdoor types, like myself, who want to experience one of the most breathtaking places in the world and literally sit above the clouds, a vacation getaway to Denali National Park in Alaska is your cup of tea. The colder weather in Alaska was not as bad as I had thought it to be. Common snow clothes were suitable outdoors clothing for the time of the year I went and regular camping supplies worked out for me during my stay. Denali National Park is hands down the most beautiful place in America and is worth every penny it costs you to travel there and experience nature in its purity. It was a life altering experience climbing mountains high above the clouds and seeing how truly magnificent and compelling the earth must have looked thousands of years ago.
The mountains were tall (11,000 feet +) and covered with bright powdery snow. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was eager to set-up camp and prepare for our nine day hunt. But, Dad said that we had to drive around and check out all the good places, just to make sure that we were in the best area. This was partially understandable, but since I am a teenager I'm not supposed to understand anything! So, we spent another several hours driving. We went up and down through the mountains and then we saw it. The spot was beautiful; it was right on the edge of a vertical drop-off, over looking everything. It was like paradise, but colder!
A couple of years ago during one of those, on a whim after spending a few days in Arches National Park, my wife and I detoured to the snowy, icy south rim of the Grand Canyon. We journeyed toward it from the east side but got turned back at the National Parks’ gate; the road was snowed under from there on up. After retracing our steps, we traveled down to Flagstaff and spent the night, driving in my four by four truck up to the South Rim the next day. It was an eerie experience to stand on the edge of the South Rim and see only cloud; fog shrouded the canyon’s great gap, leaving us with visual doubts that anything was really there. Defeated, we hit the Visitor’s Center and gathered information so we could go back sometime in the spring or fall with weather more to our liking.
Looking for Alaska is a book ,written by John Green. The main theme of the book is “Looking for the Great Perhaps.” In the first three chapters of the book, the main characters, Miles “Pudge” Halter, Chip “Colonel” Martin, and Alaska Young are introduced. Looking for Alaska is a story about a guy named Miles Halter who recently switched to a boarding in school in Alabama in order to find out who he really is as a person. At the boarding school, Miles becomes very close friends with his roommate, The Colonel, and a girl named Alaska Young. The Colonel is a very confident guy who’s pretty poor in money, but he’s rich in love and appreciation for people. Alaska is a very beautiful, yet strange girl who is fascinated with death and isn't afraid
John Green is another author who uses fictitious writing to write about their views or opinions through their characters. Like Rowling, many events in his life have had an immense influence on his writing. Like his characters in his highly successful Looking for Alaska, Green is “an Alabama boarding school alum himself” (Barkdoll 67). Green, who was a poor—yet pretentious—student, had a “strong desire to break the rules” during his boarding school days (Barkdoll 68). Though he was rebellious in school, he always had the desire to write.
An article from the At Home Memphis and Mid South magazine titled “The Unforgettable beauty of alaska” points out several wonderful features of alaskan nature. The list presents 13 must-see attractions of alaska including “Alaska’s inside passage… The Hubbard Glacier... Denali National park” (Barbara May) and many more. When being among these magnificent features, “you will witness some of the world’s most awe-inspiring tidewater glaciers and cascading waterfalls.”
Looking back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather difficult to pick on that leaves me with the fabled “warm and fuzzy feelings.” As the daughter of an Air Force Major, I had the pleasure of traveling across America in many moving trips. I have visited the monstrous trees of the Sequoia National Forest, stood on the edge of the Grande Canyon and have jumped on the beds at Caesar’s Palace in Lake Tahoe. However, I have discovered that when reflecting on my childhood, it is not the trips that come to mind, instead there are details from everyday doings; a deck of cards, a silver bank or an ice cream flavor.
One of the most enjoyable things in life are road trips, particularly to the Colorado mountains. Getting to spend time with your family and friends, while being in a beautiful place, is irreplaceable. The fifteen-hour road trip may feel never-ending, but gazing at the mountains from afar makes life’s problems seem a little smaller and causes worries to become a thing of the past. Coming in contact with nature, untouched, is a surreal experience. My family trip to the Colorado mountains last summer was inspiring.