Introduction - Alaska Traveler - page 3

some reason did not reassure her). The Arab oil embargo hit just about the same time I
bought a used VW bug to beetle around in, and we learned how to avoid the Sunday driv-
ing ban. Papadoupolous was overthrown in Greece exactly one week after we arrived, and
we learned that we could pretend not to notice the tanks rolling past our B&B. I learned to
survive bedbugs (eeyeeww!) and French fanny-pinchers (nothing I hadn't already endured
at Chilkoot Charlie's).
I also learned to like German beer, British pubs and Irish men, but this is a wholesome
family publication so we won't go there. Afterward, I understood the reason the rich used
to send their children abroad on The Grand Tour; travel is educational.
It's addictive, though; once you start you can't stop. I've been back to Europe, Outside
and to Hawaii more times than I can count. I've been to New Zealand. I've driven the Al-
can and I've biked in Baja. I'm happy to report that there are lots of things in all those
places older than me.
But Dorothy was right. There is no place like home. I'm always glad when the plane
descends and the Chugach Mountains appear beneath the wing. I know I'm back where I
belong.
Which was why when Alaska Magazine called and said, oh so demurely, would I like to
write a travel column for them, I replied, Are you sure you've reached the right person?
This is Dana Stabenow? You want to pay me to see Alaska?
It took a while, but they finally convinced me that they did. What did they want in the
way of subject matter? I asked. Get out of town, they said. Okay, I said.
So I shall sally forth, up and down the coast, in and out of the Bush, around and about
the Arctic Circle, armed with my trusty Mead Wide-Ruled 1 Subject Notebook and my
Quicker Clicker pencil. I'm flying down to Katmai to get up close and personal with the
grizzlies, I'm going flight-seeing on Denali, I'm taking a tour to Prudhoe Bay. I'm going
to the Cama'i Dance Festival in Bethel, up to the Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass, to
the Cordova Iceworm Festival. If Alaska Magazine doesn't come to its senses, I'll be
around for a while, telling you all the best places in Alaska to go, how to get there, where
to eat and stay and what to see.
Watch this spot.