As our daughter is not able to send us any pictures of our trip to Alaska right now (moving), I pass along to you all this very nice song found at the end of a video on a guy who went to Alaska to befriend and protect the grizzly bears. Uhh, he was ultimately killed by a grizzly...
The song is kind of a lament about modernization... If I had to guess, based on the lyrics, I would say this would be from perhaps the 1920s or so. Kind of an old Western-style song, highly recommended. The artist singing this is Don Edwards.
It's kind of funny. If there was anything I would use to describe Alaska, wide spread modernization is definitely not on the list. :-)
ReplyDeleteI suppose it might be easy to think that, but just consider the whole state has one half of one million people in total. Anchorage is the largest at ~250k, Fairbanks is second at ~30k, and Juneau the capital is third at ~30k. You can't drive to/from all three places. Just imagine what its like on the long tail of all the other towns.
In statistical terms, Alaska is an outlier in both size and population (the largest state with the least population).
Now you know why bush planes are so common/popular; its the cost effective travel alternative given the distance and sparse population.
I can assure you nature is getting along just fine up here. I have been in a bar in downtown Juneau and seen bears out the front glass. Its what I, and pretty much any resident, loves most I think (don't believe me? check out this - http://allthefederales.blogspot.com/2011/08/you-dont-tug-on-supermans-cape.html).
I saw flocks of waterfowl on the shore driving into work today. The forests steamed into the cool late summer air (~50s F temp wise).
I like the song, I might check out the movie sometime.
Regards,
Cooter