Alaska...fuck yeah! Part 1

I currently find myself in the midst of some exotic travels. This time, my itinerary has taken me to the last frontier of America...Alaska. The home of the forget-me-not, king crab, and glorious mountain ranges as far as the eye can see.

I knew that my trip to Alaska would be a spiritual awakening of sorts, but I never realized on how many levels or in how many domains it would occur. I feel as though this trip has been a part of a divine master plan from the beginning. The University of Alaska-Anchorage asked me to speak at their undergraduate research conference about the research that our lab does on self-objectification (although, this was *after* my advisor declined the invitation...but who's counting?). This invitation came only a month after my good friend B notified me that he would be leaving Anchorage (he's lived there since we graduated college) in mid-May to move to Seattle and that I should make every attempt to come visit Alaska before then. So, it was perfect timing that the UAA offer would allow me to travel to AK to see my friend before he left for the lower 48.

So, first things first. In true Martha fashion, I have decided on a quote to describe my travels. I have decided that the following quote (adapted from the movie Team America) best explains how I feel about everything I have been doing in AK: "Alaska...fuck yeah! Coming again to save the motherfucking day...yeah!" As my friend B will tell you, I have said it non-stop since I got here. You just can't help but be in awe of the landscape here, of the lifestyle, of the fact that this is such a precious jewel in our country.

The first part of my spiritual awakening in AK has been in being completely humbled by the physical beauty of this state. You cannot help but be acutely aware that the world is so much bigger than just oneself when you are dwarfed by gigantic, rugged, powerful mountains on all sides. Here it seems that the mountains take on a life and personality of their own. They are complex and seemingly unknowable--they are snow-capped, yet support plant life near the base. They are complex and multi-faceted with so many crevasses that no human could ever know them all. They are majestic and beautiful...perhaps most so at night when they glow against the horizon. There are dramatic cliffs that lead down to vivid blue water. Everywhere you turn, there is another example of the beauty that nature creates--a beauty that humankind just cannot replicate on its own. Just when you think you can't see another breath-taking image or that mother nature just cannot out-do herself--bam!...you see yet another amazing view. At several points in my travels, I have literally been surrounded by mountains on all sides, where it seems that I might never see flat land again. I simply cannot put into words the power of these views. If God has ever been present on land, it is in these views.

Alaska...fuck yeah!