September 25, 2008 10:07 AM
My memories of Fairbanks, Alaska
Little-known fact about me: I lived in Sarah Palin country when I was five years old!
Here's how I wrote about it a few years ago in a book that went nowhere:
When I was five, my dad took my mom, my little brother and me to live in Fairbanks, Alaska. Looking back, I can only think How weird was that?
Well, everything about my family was pretty weird in those days. Though I was born in Kansas City, Kansas, we'd already hop scotched to Arkansas, Illinois, and Georgia as my daddy ran up bills he couldn't pay in one town, then moved on to the next.
But Alaska? I can only guess that in those data-keepingly-challenged dark ages, it seemed a foolproof way to outrun the debt collectors. In 1953, Alaska was still five years away from statehood - there were still only 48 stars in the flag - and hardly anyone lived there at all. With 656,000 square miles, if they'd divvied up the state, every man, woman, and child would have gotten four square miles to call their own.
It was an incredible adventure. Even today, a daydream can take me into a land so dramatic and enchanting, I'll never forget the feeling of being in the authentic winter wonderland.
There was the snow, of course - months of snow on snow on snow, which turned our house into an underground cave. As I remember, there was a projection over our front door, which became the roof of the ice tunnel we clambered through to the top to the icy surface of the snow - so compacted from its own weight that we could walk on the surface, even without snowshoes.
Since the winter temperature hovers below zero (according to the county's current website, "Children in Fairbanks have outside recess until the temperature drops to -20 degrees F" - that's right, minus 20!), the snow never melts, accumulating on average an additional foot each month. But there was nothing average about our first winter there, with a record-breaking snowfall all over the state - including 974 inches dumped on the mountains 400 miles south of us. Let's just say we didn't get out very often.
For this little girl, winter in Alaska unrolled like a fluffy featherbed - one long, lazy sleepy night inside our little house/cave sprinkled with a couple hours of daylight here and there.
As the daylight began to linger long enough to allow us to actually leave home and go somewhere significant, I remember being taken to the dog sled races. Then there was Easter, looking for colored eggs among the icy stalagmites and stalactites in the caves, and the drip, drip, drip sound as hundreds of them began to melt.
Then the first patch of grass, so violently green it seemed to grab you by the shoulders and shake you awake as though you'd been dreaming all along through the long monochrome winter (when all you see is white for eight months, is it any wonder the Eskimos have 17 words for all its variations?).
Finally, as though we'd gone back through the looking glass, there was night no more. And though officially in June days lasted 21 hours, the three we called night resembled nothing more than a weird sepia-toned
twilight.
And somewhere in there, my daddy was pointing at the sky and telling me, "Look, look at the Northern Lights!" And they looked to me as splendid and real as the colors in my little box of crayons.
Comments
Sounds awesome! My best friend lives in Alaska; she moved there to take a youth ministry job, and ended up getting married. She's told me about how difficult it was to adjust to sleeping when it was still broad daylight outside in the summer!
Posted by: Michelle | September 25, 2008 12:03 PM
Beautiful descriptive writing!
I was born in Kansas City, MO, and we lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, when I was 7-9. We moved there in the middle of winter from the Mojave Desert in California! We had to order boxes of winter clothes and snow gear from Cabela's before we moved because we only had desert clothes. (My dad was stationed in Ft. Irwin, CA, and we also lived in Barstow, and then he was moved to Ft. Wainwright, AK, by Fairbanks)
I loved living in Alaska. One winter we were there, it snowed 12 feet!
Posted by: Becky Miller | September 25, 2008 1:05 PM
I also lived in Fairbanks, AK as a child. We moved there from deep in the heart of Texas. What a change! We also lived in North Pole, AK before moving back to Texas.
I remember that school would only be canceled if the temperature grew colder than -30! I also remember the children being perplexed by my frequent use of "y'all".
Posted by: Smockity Frocks | September 25, 2008 4:27 PM
Even though I'm not a mother, and I never want to be one, I somehow stumbled on this blog just after Sarah Palin was nominated. I really like Barbara's "Palin Outrage of the Day". I've never posted before anywhere, but this was too good to pass up. Besides, as I was reading this, there was an earthquake!!!
I've lived in Fairbanks for the last decade. It's changed a lot even over the ten years I've lived here, but some things never change. We have two Fred Meyers, a super Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, Sam's Club, and many other "big box" stores, but it oddly retains it's small townish feel(or so people say). There's 91,000 people in the borough. Unfortunately, people are more busy then when we lived in Nome, but the arts community is very strong, and we have a beautiful new art museum at the University and the Morris Thompson Cultural Center that was just finished last month.
But the weather remains just as unpredictable. This summer, it did almost nothing but rain, and everyone's gardens were stunted. I don't think it ever got to 90 degrees once. It makes up for the summer when all the ash from the fires fell from the sky, and the people were unhappy, but the gardens certainly were very happy! I'm praying for a warm winter, but no rain. There hasn't been as much snow these past few years, only a few feet. But the area remains as beautiful as ever. The hills are gorgeous, and on clearer days one can see the mountains. Interestingly, we suffer from air pollution. I haven't read too much on it yet, and I would certainly like to know more.
I have only one more thing to say about Alaska, and I know I'm preaching mostly to the choir, but Palin has done some pretty amazing things in Alaska. I'm proud to be a pro-life feminist.
I might post more later if I think of anything else to say.
Posted by: Anna | September 25, 2008 4:37 PM
Lovely memories in a lovely piece. Thank you, Barbara!
Posted by: kcinnova | September 26, 2008 8:17 AM
