had things gone to plan, kate and myself would have found ourselves in a nice riverside cottage for two days before beginning on the journey below. why this initial getaway didn't occur is a separate story in itself (one that involves much stress and frustration), but the important factor is we eventually were able to join our classmates in angamaly, kerela, in india to spend the following weeks learning deeply about the diversity of social work practice, observing the compassion and enthusiasm for development in kerela, and building relationships with some of the most wonderfully kind and generous social worker students i've ever met.
the chief, vancouver
the chief is no walk in the park. it gives participants three options - a walk to summit one, two, or three. we collectively decided to tackle summit two. from what we could see on the map, it had the broadest viewpoint. somehow along the way, tim took a wrong turn and ended up on summit one. we waved him from the next mount (see below). as we headed back, sam and I thought "why can't we do both?", and decided to take a rather steep cliff-face shortcut that got us to tim on summit one. we joined forces and walked down down the other mount. it was wildly hot, so we stopped to for a much needed dip afterward.
hi tim!
vancouver
vancouver is a peaceful city.
seattle to alaska
there's nothing very exciting about these photos, just your everyday run of the mill plane photos really.
but what is exciting is the events that took place leading up to this flight...
It all started with crossing the american border on our way back from vancouver, a seemingly normal venture that included a slight hiccup with Clare's passport not getting stamped when she first arrived, meaning instead of just driving through we had to get out of the car and blah blah blah. this meant that instead of taking our passports back from the front of the car, we each did so as we seperately remembered. with the joys of unforeseen traffic came the lot of us rushing like madmen to unload the car, drop it off to the rental company and then catch our flight. we'd also heard that the security lines for flights in america were long, so we starting to stress a little. sam and tim eventually arrived back after dropping the car off, to realise that tim had not grabbed his passport from the front of the car (like we all assumed he had). with the clock ticking this meant tim had to get a taxi back to the rental company, grab his passport and get the flight - which we were already ourselves worried about missing. we collectively decided that we'd go on without him, better only one person have to get a new flight then us all right? once finally passed security, i ran ahead just to check if the flight had started boarding yet (the display board had said it hadn't). the departure area was almost empty, which made me immediately freak out. they were still boarding, but time was slipping away. we stood out the front of the departure gate hoping that maybe we could stall for tim, or at least drag it out as long as possible. by this point, we'd all given up hope that tim was going to make it. we had literally only just got there and he still had to get through security.
I took one last look down the hallway, to see tim running for his life toward us. he'd bloody made it. no flight has ever felt as rewarding as that one.
talkeetna, alaska
our last days in alaska were by far the kookiest. on our way to talkeetna, we drove by an incredible old igloo building, which most definitely hadn't been used in a long while. the windows were boarded up and i'm sure it wasn't glowing white like it used to. there was a small hole to get inside, but it looked terrifying so none of us dared enter. as we drove on we finally reached talkeetna, a town whose mayor is a cat. an actual pet cat. we spent a lot of time hanging by the river, in which we nearly lost our only key to the rental car. I also discovered that claire is a ping pong queen.
denali national park, alaska
there's a lot to see inside six million acres of national park.
they say that twins are very common when the vegetation is good.
george parks highway, alaska
while we were in alaska i convinced everyone that we should go to fairbanks. for purely no reason other than to appease my sixteen year old 'into the wild' fan self, who wanted to follow some of christopher mccandless steps. none of these photos are from fairbanks, cause it turns out fairbanks ain't got that much to offer. however, i have zero regrets about going there because it lead us to this roadside stop on our way back to anchorage. it was beautiful and had a replica of the magic bus (around a three day hike from the original). I wanted to cry a little. sixteen year old jes’ dreams have been achieved.
somewhere, alaska
this was our first full day in Alaska. i've forgotten the name of the glacier, so forgive me.
skilak lake, alaska
campgrounds in alaska are abundant and surprisingly unpopulated (for peak season).
sometimes they are right next to a freezing lake that you may or may not decide to swim in.
exit glacier, alaska
if i learnt one thing about myself while i was in alaska it was that i really like walking in the wild. now this doesn't mean that i'm at all good, fast, or built for it, but damn is it rewarding. this particular hike was about six hours return, and seemingly encompassed a part of every season. at the bottom the air was crisp, but the sun was warm. as we began the walk under the canopy, the wilderness stroke autumn like resemblance with leaves on the floor. as we hiked above tree level we were met with fields of wild flowers, which as hiking continued was followed by a freezing winter wonderland. all the seasons in one day. pretty good for an average summer's day, if you could call it that. the sun in alaska only set for about four hours of the day. we started this hike at 5pm. meaning we got back to the bottom around the eleven pm mark. this made the last hour slightly thrilling, warranting us to sing songs loudly in hope that any bears would find the sounds so atrocious that they would have to run in the opposite direction.
