Something I'll Never Do Again

It snowed yesterday. It didn't quite get down as far as where we live and work, but the mountains around where we are (for example Mount Healy that I climbed about a week ago) have snow on top of them now. The weather changes every five minutes. It seems that the weather forecast every day is partly cloudy, chance of showers- always. And usually it's right. The sun comes out every once in a while, and when it does everyone wants to go outside. But it's constantly changing. And just because it's sunny where we are near the entrance of the park, it could be completely different further in the park.

Well, I knew coming to Alaska would be all about experiencing something new. A new place. New people. And new experiences. So I've been doing my best to take advantage of everything that's offered here to do. It's been great so far, and being an employee has helped a lot. I'm still learning about the perks of being an employee, and learned recently that one of them is that you can do a flight seeing tour for free. Free!! How could I turn down the chance to fly through Denali National Park in a little plane, and take in all the beautiful Alaska terrain?! I couldn't! So I didn't.

I was really excited about it. My roommate and I decided to go together. We were shuttled to Healy, a nearby town where there is a small airstrip, and loaded into a 9 passenger plane with seven other passengers. We took off, heading towards the park, and flew over where we live and work....that part was beautiful, however I have a hard time remembering the rest of the ride...

The tour was an hour and a half, and if you're wondering why I can't remember the remaining hour and twenty five minutes it's because....well...most of the time my head was hunched over a plastic bag..... All those trips as a kid driving to Yosemite, making my parents pull over because of the winding roads were flashing back to me all at once, except there was no possibility of pulling over.

Talk about being miserable. Who would have thought that flying over glaciers and amazing mountain ranges could be a bad experience. I sure wouldn't have thought so. And if I'd known beforehand that I would be sick, I'm sure I would have done it anyways- telling myself that I could still enjoy it nonetheless. Never again.

So a word to the wise for people looking to do a flight tour ever in their lives. Take motion sickness medicine. Even if you think you have a strong stomach, it couldn't hurt. I still recommend the tour though. I tried to snap pictures and video out the window during the flight, knowing that even though I could care less about the views at the moment hopefully looking back on it I would appreciate what I was looking at. And the pictures are beautiful!! Although we weren't able to see Mt McKinley because there were clouds covering it, the glaciers were amazing and the mountains are breathtaking.

So in conclusion, I realized that flying tours in small planes are not my thing. I've always thought I'm up for doing anything, but am no longer willing to put myself through being that miserable ever again. I guess that's what this summer's all about! I'm learning! I'll stick to traveling by means in which I can stop and get out at any time. (this does include skydiving...I can just jump out...so that's still on the list) :)