I'm back in the studio today, after a week away in beautiful Alaska. Rather than write up a full report this morning, I'll share some pictures with you over the next few days.
Because I am a geography/history geek/weirdo, I'll start with some maps.
The town of Cordova is situated in a remarkable place. Glaciers, mountains, and ocean converge to form a temperate rainforest that is only accessible by air or by sea.
You can see the town of Cordova on the right-hand side of this map.
Tell people where you're headed and they first picture dogsleds and igloos, ptarmigans and tundra.
Instead, this is what you'd find. Many people here make their living as commercial fishermen, catching salmon and halibut.
Everyone in Cordova has a view of the mountains. These are not a couple of peaks far off in the distance, either. Every window has a view.
Because my visit was just after the summer solstice, there was 24 hours of daylight -- something I haven't experienced before. This picture was taken at 11:30 pm, outside the window of the cabin where I stayed.
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I live in northern Minnesota, and that we have more than our fair share of forest here. But the forest in this part of Alaska is nearly all old-growth conifer.
Because much of it has been set aside as protected, logging operations haven't clear cut the 200-year old trees. And the deciduous tree population here is sparse, which means that this region isn't peppered with barren poplar and birch six months of the year.
Translation: it's green year-round.
The fresh water lakes come from glacier runoff, and the color is right up my alley -- muted turquoises and teals.
Duty calls, but check back later for some more highlights.