NORTH TO ALASKA! A PHOTO REMEMBRANCE

By Juan Montoya
About five years ago I ran into a friend of mine at the Stripes (or was it Valero then?). I had met him when I used to work in Minnesota as did he.

We sat and talked over coffee. Then he asked if I had ever to Alaska. I thought that weird, but I said I hadn't.
"So how'd you like to go up there for a couple of months?," he asked. "Kind of like a vacation."
It was late June and the heat was oppressive outside the air-conditioned shelter of the convenience store. "What are you going to do over there?," I asked.

"We'll go salmon fishing," he said. "The company will pay for room and board, all we have to do is get there."
I had a few bucks saved up so that wasn't a problem. The kids were out of school and had someone to watch them. I probed a bit more.
"You mean out in the ocean?," I asked.
"No, man. On land. The boats come in and we just unload them and then they're processed. It's a lot of fun and you meet a lot of people from southern Mexico and Europe who go there for the season."

To make the long story short, we arrived in Seattle and boarded a plane (you can only get there flying or by ferry) to Petersburg, Alaska, off the Canadian British Colombia coast. We took off from Seattle and after a stop in Ketchekan, we arrived in a totally different world.
Texans have always had a kind of penis envy about Alaska. Now I knew why. On the flight from Seattle to Petersburg, the Alaska Airline jet soared over vast stretches of virgin coastline. Snowy peaks stretched ut below as far as the eye could see, even in midsummer. That alone made the trip worthwhile.
But there more wonders to behold. A vista of water, plant life, and animals awaited us. Here are some of the photos that I brought back with me. I'll let the images speak for themselves.

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