Gustavus, a town of about 600 people in Southeast Alaska, is known as The Gateway City to Glacier Bay National Park for a very good reason but the activity here isn’t limited to the park! There are many other great things to do in and around the town itself. People often ask how to say …
One of the most famous aspects of the Pacific Northwest is the wide variety of marine life that can be found in the nearby waters. Next to green trees and the band Nirvana, it might be the thing that people think of first when they think of the PNW. People don’t often think about all …
The other day, I took my girlfriend out on a drive a little over 100 miles from my home in Portland. We went on a lovely walk for an hour or two and, when we came back, the ground where we parked was swarming with thousands of crickets. (I included a couple of videos of …
A few years ago, I was invited to a birthday party for a friend of a friend at one of the beaches a few miles from my house. They told me we would be digging for clams, so I should bring a shovel. Despite living in the Pacific Northwest all my life, I’d never gone …
One of the most fascinating communities in Alaska is Yakutat, at the very top of the Southeast Alaska panhandle. It is a small village of about 650 people and is technically speaking actually a Borough (the Alaskan equivalent of a county). It is both one of the largest county or county equivalents by area and …
In my opinion, Washington state is one of the best vacation destinations in the contiguous United States. However, for many people, Washington is one of those “it’s alright to visit but I sure wouldn’t want to live there” places. So what’s it like to live in Washington State? As someone who has traveled extensively in …
When most people hear the phrase “a town in Southeast Alaska,” Angoon will not be the first one that comes to their mind. After all, it’s a small Tlingit village of just under 500 people. Some people may remember the semi-viral internet music video “This is Angoon” by Eagles N Ravens from the early 2010s …
A friend of mine from Alaska came to visit me in Portland last week and we decided to go on a drive to see our friend down in Medford. Naturally, we decided to stop for gas. She’s very kind, so she offered to get out of the car and pump the gas for me, so …
A friend of mine is coming down to visit me in Oregon next month and she asked me the other day if I had ever seen a scorpion while living down here or if we even have them at all. I told her that there are many species of insects and wildlife in the Pacific …
An important part of the rich history of the Pacific Northwest is the many Native American tribes who have inhabited these lands for thousands of years. There are many different groups of Native Americans in the region, which is one of the preferred terms, as “America” in this context refers to North America and not …