Endless aisles of ribbon and wrapping paper. Glittery, spangled trees in all shapes and sizes. Ubiquitous Christmas carols floating through every speaker. Brace yourselves, folks \u2014 the holidays are upon us.<\/p>\n
As the throws of celebratory bliss descend upon us all, I\u2019d like to take a minute, pour a glass of wine (or two), and appreciate some of the things that make me grateful to be on this road to becoming an Alaskan.<\/p>\n
1. The meme possibilities are endless. Bears crashing a child\u2019s cupcake-filled birthday (literally). Santa Claus being elected to the city council of North Pole. The salmon-forty-seven. You can\u2019t make this stuff up.<\/p>\n
2. Hiking, fishing, skiing \u2014 the list goes on. It\u2019s an outdoor playland up here (don\u2019t even get me started on the scenery). It\u2019s no wonder that as soon as the sun shows its face or the snow flies in the mountains everyone is tripping over their Xtratufs to get out the door. The scenery is an Instagram-ers paradise, with so many gorgeous settings that #nofilter almost goes without saying. I recently read a Hotwire article that said the most tweeted travel and leisure emoji for Alaska was a smiley-face with hearts for eyes. This is not all that surprising, especially if you\u2019ve ever been to the Mendenhall Glacier in the summer when the tourists roll in. <\/p>\n
3. I now know three different ways to make salmon. This paltry number is probably blasphemy to the ears of anyone who has grown up here. But I\u2019m from Washington and \u2014 not for nothing \u2014 we have our fair share of fresh seafood. Yet, these are three more ways to make salmon than I knew before moving to Alaska. Whether or not I make salmon well is another question. The baked teriyaki salmon recipe I tried had the same consistency as leather. Incidentally, this may be a sweet business opportunity; I\u2019m going to have to look up those guys at Tidal Vision. Maybe they need stock material for their wallets…<\/p>\n
4. Alaska is an entire state of creative doers. If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned, besides three salmon recipes, it\u2019s that there are few things you can\u2019t do. If you want to learn how to fish all summer and take up block printing in the winter, then you just do it. Why not write a novel while experimenting with brewing beer in your spare time? Even better, you can usually find a place to put those talents to work in the community. You can hardly move for all the classes on pottery, painting, climbing, scuba diving … the list goes on. The only real question here is how you\u2019re going to find time for all your new hobbies.<\/p>\n
5. Whether you\u2019ve grown up here and spend the holidays with your family, or you and your closest friends\/neighbors\/co-workers host a Friendsgiving full of transplants, Alaska is all about community. Christmas and New Years are no different. On my first Christmas in Alaska, a group of friends and I stayed in a state park cabin \u2014 complete with string lights and a Santa Claus costume. <\/p>\n
Today my roommate and I are going to find a wild, Alaskan Christmas tree \u2014 the first one I will have ever owned that did not come from a parking lot (or a box). So bring on the turkey (or salmon), gingerbread houses, and plenty of mulled wine. \u2018Tis the season \u2014 Alaska style.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sarah Cannard is a transplant from the Lower 48 who enjoys long walks on Sandy Beach, Carolans with her coffee and days when her socks match. Follow her on Twitter @becomingalaskan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Endless aisles of ribbon and wrapping paper. Glittery, spangled trees in all shapes and sizes. Ubiquitous Christmas carols floating through every speaker. Brace yourselves, folks \u2014 the holidays are upon us. As the throws of celebratory bliss descend upon us all, I\u2019d like to take a minute, pour a glass of wine (or two), and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12160"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}