Rebel and I gleefully scooped Meghan from the airport last night. She made the 2,800 mile flight from Chicago late last night to complete her three-week summer vacation and began work today in Anchorage, quite the whirlwind. The flight tracker above shows Meghan's plane mid-flight and the immense distance between Anchorage and the L48. For instance, the image is so zoomed out that it includes half a dozen foreign countries. The Pulitzer Prize-winning John McPhee once wrote that Alaska itself is a foreign country "heavily populated by Americans." And for what it's worth, the ADN's Rural Alaska Blog reports that over 50 villages in the state currently lack indoor plumbing. Perhaps the "foreign-ness" of Alaska is what makes it so appealing to its residents. Our friends the Wilcos who lived in Bethel for a spell said that it definitely felt like a different country, with its unique languages and customs. Although many consider Anchorage to lie outside the true Alaska, when measured by the number of languages spoken within the municipality (around 80), it sure does feel like the most northerly cosmopolitan city in the world. All in all, Reb and I are very glad Meg is back home.
Photo: P. Saltonstall
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Meghan "Coming into the Country"
Rebel and I gleefully scooped Meghan from the airport last night. She made the 2,800 mile flight from Chicago late last night to complete her three-week summer vacation and began work today in Anchorage, quite the whirlwind. The flight tracker above shows Meghan's plane mid-flight and the immense distance between Anchorage and the L48. For instance, the image is so zoomed out that it includes half a dozen foreign countries. The Pulitzer Prize-winning John McPhee once wrote that Alaska itself is a foreign country "heavily populated by Americans." And for what it's worth, the ADN's Rural Alaska Blog reports that over 50 villages in the state currently lack indoor plumbing. Perhaps the "foreign-ness" of Alaska is what makes it so appealing to its residents. Our friends the Wilcos who lived in Bethel for a spell said that it definitely felt like a different country, with its unique languages and customs. Although many consider Anchorage to lie outside the true Alaska, when measured by the number of languages spoken within the municipality (around 80), it sure does feel like the most northerly cosmopolitan city in the world. All in all, Reb and I are very glad Meg is back home.
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I love that quote from John Mcphee - when I first drove into Alaska I thought of it as a distant planet that just happened to be inhabited by Americans!!
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