After my week in Florida, I headed up to Alaska to visit my parents. The trip was just as long (I believe it was longer, actually) than my trip from Nagoya to Florida. Part of that was due to a long layover in Denver. When I used to come to Japan, I used to stop in Korea and have an eleven hour layover. I chalked it down to it being an international flight. It seems that domestic travel now has the same problems, and I ended waiting ten hours or so in Denver. I’ve never actually flown through Denver before, so I’m assuming that the reason for the routing and the limited number of flights was because of recent gas prices. I had never really thought about it before, but I have a feeling that this is a taste of things to come and I have many hours of pain and anguish ahead of me in my trips to and from home. As much as I dislike flying, I would almost rather be up in the air for that period of time rather than sitting and waiting for hours on end, knowing the whole time that you will be on a plane soon waiting for hours on end after that.

After getting to Alaska I was relieved to feel cool air. None of that thick, oppressing humidity baking off of the asphalt as is prevalent in Nagoya. I was pretty beat when I got there, but my bed in Alaska is a lot more comfortable than the futon I have been sleeping on in Japan (sorry, futon) and I was really looking forward to it. We spent most of the vacation taking it easy and eating most of the stuff that I can’t get in Japan. The only thing that I forgot to eat was Arby’s potato cakes and curly fries. Too bad, but there’s always next time. Taco Bell is never as good as I remember, especially this time because it was slightly ruined by the Dr. Pepper I received without the Dr. Pepper; it was mostly just carbonated water. Don Jose’s, a Mexican-Italian restaurant, ended up being the best of the bunch out of default. I miss Mexican food the most, and Alaska has a real shortage of it. Don Jose’s is not the greatest in the world, but it does the job when you’re in a fix. And it’s unquestionably more authentic than Taco Bell.

Even though my mom offered places to visit and whatnot, I didn’t really come with the intention to visit anywhere. Mostly, I just wanted to see them, relax, and enjoy the time. There were a few note-worthy events however, including but not limited to head-spinning goats, trashy rural Alaskan Cajun music concert goers, and a rafting trip that left us stranded on the side of a lake with whitecaps barreling down on the side of the raft, no thanks to me. I thought about taking a few photos but I ended up foregoing that in favor of enjoying the moment. I did end up taking a few photos when I was testing out some new lighting equipment or when I happened to have my camera with me and wanted to take pictures in a not-so-serious manner.

I was in Alaska for just under three weeks but it went by way too fast and I wished that I could have stayed longer. However, duty called, and I had to head back to Japan to shoot Domatsuri and start work again. But I’ll be back soon, although next time I’ll probably have to take more photos to compensate for my slacking this time.

Technorati Tags: Alaska, Kenai, Photography, Goats