You may live in a place for months, even years, and it does not touch you, but a weekend or a night in another, and you feel as if your whole being has been sprayed with an equivalent of a cosmic wind.
Doris Lessing — Under My Skin (1994)
Tim rises at 6:00 a.m. to start a fire in the wood stove and the cabin is warm and toasty by seven. We feast on a delicious breakfast of Jalapeno-Cheese flat bread, pan-fried bacon and an omelet with potato, cheese and onion.
After breakfast we wander to the lakeshore and meet the woman from the campsite next door. She and her brother had set up camp near our cabin last night; they are on a five-day backpacking trip along Resurrection Pass Trail. Our Swan Lake “neighbor” lives in Anchorage but her family (and visiting brother) are from Washington, D.C. The woman and her husband own a floatplane and fly the Alaskan wilderness. She loves flying and she loves living in Alaska.
A moment of panic engulfed the woman and her brother this morning when they felt the ground shaking beneath their tent. They yelled to each other: “It’s an earthquake!” No, it was only a moose thundering by within a few feet of the tent’s door.
By mid-morning Tim is carrying our gear to the rowboat to prepare for the floatplane’s arrival. When you’re deep in the Alaskan wilderness there is no sound more reassuring than the distant drone of a plane on its way to collect you on the prearranged pick-up date. We first hear, and then see, the dark blue Regal Air floatplane circling Swan Lake; the plane lands, skimming and bumping over the lake’s surface until it arrives near our beach.
Soon we’re taxiing from the east end of the lake and lifting off into a crystal clear morning sky. The 25 minute flight back to Anchorage is effortless and trouble-free. We enjoy a smooth landing on Hood Lake Seaplane Base near Anchorage International Airport. Regal Air calls us a cab and we’re on our way. We chow down on pizza at the wonderful Moose’s Tooth Restaurant and Pub in downtown Anchorage.
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| Regal Air floatplane taxis to our beach. |
By mid-morning Tim is carrying our gear to the rowboat to prepare for the floatplane’s arrival. When you’re deep in the Alaskan wilderness there is no sound more reassuring than the distant drone of a plane on its way to collect you on the prearranged pick-up date. We first hear, and then see, the dark blue Regal Air floatplane circling Swan Lake; the plane lands, skimming and bumping over the lake’s surface until it arrives near our beach.
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| Ferrying our gear to the plane in the cabin's trusty rowboat. |
Soon we’re taxiing from the east end of the lake and lifting off into a crystal clear morning sky. The 25 minute flight back to Anchorage is effortless and trouble-free. We enjoy a smooth landing on Hood Lake Seaplane Base near Anchorage International Airport. Regal Air calls us a cab and we’re on our way. We chow down on pizza at the wonderful Moose’s Tooth Restaurant and Pub in downtown Anchorage.
After lunch we check in at the Courtyard Marriott, take much needed showers and luxuriate in the comfort of our hotel. And the Courtyard Marriott is a wonderful hotel. It’s plush. It’s well-appointed. But still... a stay here does not compare with the cosmic grandeur of three days spent in Swan Lake cabin.
For information on Alaska’s Forest Service cabins re-visit my August 11, 2011 blog post: "Day One at Swan Lake Cabin on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula"
Planning your own trip to the Kenai Peninsula? Visit this website: http://www.kenaipeninsula.org/
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| Goodbye and Farewell, Swan Lake Cabin. |
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| Ready to load our gear into the "Titanic". |
That lake is soooo blue. Glad you and Tim survived your voyage aboard "Titanic"! ;- )
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