My Mom In Wrangell (and Why I'm a Crazy Alaskan)

It’s been almost two weeks since my mom has left Wrangell but it already seems like eons ago. Despite arriving into Wrangell ten hours later than expected and coming in on a charter boat from Petersburg as opposed to on a plane into Wrangell’s airport, she ended up really liking it here. Despite the rain and the fog and the rain and the rain.

The sun did end up coming out for two and a half days in a row – quite impressive for weather around here. As fond to it as I have become, I have started to take for granted how naturally beautiful the surroundings are here. Upon returning back to New York, my mom commented on how “everything seems so ugly now.”


She got to go up the mighty Stikine River (it’s actually the Great river but I’ve taken the Mighty from the Mekong and have ascribed it to the Stikine as well) and there she saw icebergs, Shake’s Glacier, and her first moose. We joined some friends on a boat ride to Anan Bear Observatory, which is supposed to be the best bear observatory in the whole state, and saw a plethora of black bears and even a brown bear sow with two cubs.


And we joined Kevin and Scott on their fishing jaunt to Virginia Lake. It was the first time for both my mom and myself to see fly-fishing in real life. Watching Kevin and Scott fish was like seeing them become kids again, seeing them enjoy something so purely.

I imagine that’s what a lot of activities done here – the fishing, the hunting, the boating, the hiking – evoke in people. That’s what these surroundings can do. I have always enjoyed the outdoors in terms of being visually stimulating and providing warm weather, but I’ve never really used it, used the land. I don’t have enough knowledge of nature – the land or the water – to enjoy it in those capacities. It’s a barrier I feel is between many people who live in Wrangell and myself.


Unlike everyone else who has relocated to Alaska, I did not come here for the adventures in nature. Perhaps on a periphery level I did – after all, it’s impossible to think about Alaska and not think about the natural grandeur – but I never actually pictured myself going camping, fishing, hiking on trails that bears inhabit, paddling among sea lions. This might sound silly but I came to Alaska to write for a small town paper.


And while I do enjoy the outdoors and partaking in adventures I never really saw myself doing (really I do. They challenge me and are giving me memories I’ll never forget), I’d almost rather be reading in the sun or shooting the shit on someone’s deck enjoying the view. Call me crazy, a crazy Alaskan.