Flying Into Anchorage

 We recently flew to Alaska in the dead of winter, and when I awoke to turbulence going over some Canadian mountains, I was struck by how beautiful the north is--which is good because as the planet warms, all that Canadian wilderness will suddenly look pretty darn habitable.  I love the view of the Alaskan mountains that extend south of Anchorage that hug the coastline as you fly in, and then the spectacular Chugash Mountains, and in the distance on that day we could even see Mount McKinley, the majestic Denali that is the highest point in the Northern continent of the New World.

Prince William Sound is always beautiful.  I have yet to be there in the messy break up of spring or in the early days of fall, but in summer and winter it is always cool.  The view from overhead this year was so cool.  The frozen parts of the ocean looked like bacterial growth on a petri dish, circles of ice growing and colliding with each other.  This is water that is home to belugas in the summer, but now it is just a winter wonderland.