Sometimes I start a blog and think it’s going to be one thing; yet my brain spins it in another direction. Or I morph several things into my original idea. Yes, this is one of those.

As Russ and I stared out our airplane window into the glaciers, peaks and water below, memories flooded back from my short prior trips to Anchorage and Juneau more than 35 years ago. Back then, my mind was too full of the relative newness of work responsibilities to imagine adding a few days of vacation to experience the wildness beyond the cities. I was in my late 20s, and although book learned and boasting a masters degree in industrial hygiene and public health, I lacked work and life experience held by my fellow EPA employees.

Each year I would travel to each of the Region 10 EPA Operation Offices located in Juneau, Alaska, Boise, Portland and Olympia, and repeat what I’d provided for Seattle Regional Office staff. A full day of training about all things hazardous, respirators and anything else safety related. Then I’d spend a day fit-testing respirators. In those days we’d invite various state environmental employees to fill the room – after all, they didn’t then have their own industrial hygienist. I had to learn quickly, working as the regional industrial hygienist and safety administrator for EPA region 10, yet only in my second IH job out of school.

This week during our flight what came to me were memories of the kind people I worked with back then. (And yes, how many good public servants have now had their lives upended.) The night before catching our flight, an employee named Carl bubbled back into my brain: one of the onsite incident commanders for EPA’s emergency response branch. Back in those days, with strong administrative support for environmental regulation, each of the five operations offices in EPA Region 10 had one or more on scene commanders (OSCs). I looked up Carl online, and was saddened to find his obituary from 2010. I grieved not to have more clearly shared, when he was alive, how much his kindness and welcome meant to me those decades ago. Instead I added it to his still active legacy page.

Unlike Celia and Emma in my upcoming book, A Map of Her Own, these male OSC’s and other field staff, never treated me disrespectfully either because of my gender or my age. I realize how lucky I was as I look back now. It’s not that I didn’t experience gender discrimination in my career, but they never showed up for my from within EPA staff.

In those four years as I traveled to Anchorage and Juneau, I quickly came up to speed in presenting to this intensely smart scientific staff. A few years ago when in Boise, I thought about my OSC friend Bill, a bit of an uncle figure like Ed is to Celia in A Map of Her Own. Bill and I spent several days investigating the Bunker Hill Superfund Site, me soon after reviewing safety plans for contractors tasked to do everything from removing huge pools of mercury and asbestos, to replacing folks yards contaminated with heavy metals. Then there were the Seattle OSCs who invited me on a road trip to Southern Oregon to track illegal dumping of dozens of chemical containing drums. I was to make sure “they were safe,” while I too assisted with the “Level B” sampling – sweating into our Saranex and SCBAs in the August sun. Two of the three were Vietnam vets and ex-DEA. And again, they were nothing but kind to me and open to what I recommended. Yes, it was a terrific early job in my interesting career. I’ve got to believe growing up with four brothers helped me navigate these relationships.

BUT NOW I have time to visit parts of this gorgeous, still wild state. We decided to focus on the Kenai Peninsula for most of our two weeks. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit in moments it’s hard to enjoy this luxury or feel I’m disregarding reality, so many now who are hurting – civil servants, immigrants, those on low and fixed incomes or losing healthcare. Sigh.

Traveling with a geologist in parts of the world like this does add another dimension to travel. Frequently I hear Russ mutter “Unbelievable!” And, as happens often, especially when visiting beautiful wild spaces, I think of Mom. I looked up this passage From First Breath to Last as we hang out near Homer in the same spot referenced below. Yes, I carry Mom in my heart pocket as always.

Okay – on to a few photos. This is definitely the spot to be a true photographer, but my iPhone pics will have to do. Here are some from our Alaska Kenai highlights.

Soon after driving out of Anchorage we were engulfed in the beauty of the Cook Inlet and nearby mountains. The Cook Inlet is known for its unusually large tidal range, especially in this Turnagain Arm area with fluctuations as much as 40 feet!

The same afternoon we flew in from Portland, we hiked the steep 2.2 mile climb in the town of Girdwood above the Alyeska hotel and tram. Yes, we skipped paying for the tram ride up and accepted the free ride down, after hiking around and having a beer. We loved our night in Girdwood and began to adjust to daylight till after 10 pm. Huge shout out to the Ski In as a top place to stay. 

As we made a short detour to Whittier and the opening of Prince William Sound, I remembered the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. Although I didn’t travel to Valdez at the time, I recall correspondences about safety plans and questions about who was allowed to clean oil from rocks – certainly they could be exempted from the usual required eight hours of training. If you don’t know anything about Whittier, there’s a somewhat older but informative NPR story about it. Yes, the only land route to the town is through the 2.5 mile tunnel!

We headed to Seward to join a fjord boat tour but unfortunately high seas canceled the trip, although we’re rescheduling for later this week. But we did enjoy exploring the town and nearby trails. We had a wonderful two nights in a unit in the 1903 Brown and Hawkins historical building. The old photos hanging on its walls included one of a storefront that made me think of my imaginings of Emma’s Dad’s Camas Pioneer store in the same vintage in A Map of Her Own.

On our hike in the Kenai Fjord National Park to view Exit Glacier we spotted some vegetation similar to what we know in the Pacific Northwest: devil’s club, corn lily, elderberry, blueberry and alder – albeit different varieties. And additions of others like Sitka spruce. A meadow dotted with wildflowers and goats on the rocks high above the trail slowed our hiking, and clouds moved in and out changing our visibility. Yes, my mantra about the power of human connection shined as we met a new friend, Forest from Georgia, inviting him to hike with us. His career in the Pacific Northwest in environmental compliance and for Georgia Pacific lent many avenues of conversation, including his work at the Camas paper mill. What are the chances? Yes, the ever present power of synchronicity at work.

Our bear viewing trip to Katmai National Park and Preserve is without a doubt, a bucket list stand out. Huge shout out to our fabulous guide Libby from Emerald Air for helping us understand more about the Alaska Brown Bear, their behavior, and of course, how to keep ourselves safe as we hiked the creeks and hung out quietly in their habitat. No words can convey the emotions we experienced on this trip.

Another big day began by water taxi from Homer to Glacier Spit trailhead on Kachemak State Park. Ten or so miles and seven hours later we were picked up at Saddle Trailhead. Yes, the glaciers are receding rapidly. Another sigh.

While this trip is not low budget, although parts of it can be economized, it absolutely fills the bucket list definition. Although we still have a week to go, this seemed more than enough to share. For now. After all, if you know how my brain works…no telling what will pop in before we arrive home.

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