40 Years Ago Today

September 12, 1974, is the day I arrived in Juneau, Alaska.  Fresh out of Coast Guard boot camp, and a short month shy of my 18th birthday.

I got off the plane at the airport, got a taxi, and headed into town to the Baranof Hotel, where I stayed for the first couple of weeks.

I remember that day because I wanted to.  It was a major event in my young life.  Alaska.  Arriving there not really having any idea what to expect.  I'd never lived in a coastal environment, or among mountains.  There was little information available to me - no internet full of pictures and videos to see.

So I landed there, as the fall began it's long and deep slide into winter darkness, and it rained.  Day after day, mist, drizzle, and rain - the clouds hanging far down the mountain sides.  I remember that it was about 40 days before I saw the tops of the mountains for the first time.

Early on, I stuck that date, 9/12/74, in my memory and have reinforced it many times.  The two strongest memories I have of that first year were those rainy first 40 days of fall, and then, the following spring, when the days grew longer and longer.  I resolved to take full advantage of those daylight hours - hiking, fishing, cooking out at the beach - not wanting to waste any of that daylight after the months of dark and cold.  I kept up pretty well for several weeks, before lack of sleep caught up with me and I crashed.