Daily writing prompt

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

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I don’t watch the news very much anymore and and especially US news but since I’m out of my element, overnighting in a hotel for work, I have NBC Early Today on the TV in my room.

A landslide in Ketchikan Alaska caught my eye. I needed to check it out on Google Maps to see if I had been there, it sounded familiar.

About eighteen years ago, we travelled to that area for my brother in law’s wedding in Prince Rupert, BC. I only had my two older kids at the time and so my ex-husband and I piled them into our minivan and made the three plus day drive. After the wedding, my in laws and some of their friends decided we all needed to drive another day further north towards Alaska and get “Hyderized” in Hyder Alaska.

So we hadn’t actually been to Ketchikan but were close to it in the bordertown of Stewart, British Columbia/Hyder, Alaska. Stewart and Hyder are two of the most mesmerizing places I have ever seen and probably will ever see.

Mountains, ocean, crazily raw and rugged wilderness is how I would describe it. Right out of a storybook. Actually it is in a storybook, an uber popular children’s author in Canada named Robert Munsch wrote a story and used the images from the town of Stewart, BC as the illustrations.

It’s one of those places where, as you’re driving to get there, you’re wondering first, are you ever going to get there and also, is this going to be worth it? The drive is long, seems neverending and is just trees, trees and more trees. Well to be fair, there are mountains and ice fields I guess. But you feel like you’re are driving to the ends of the earth. It’s almost spooky.

When you “cross the border” from Stewart BC to Hyder Alaska you are driving on a dirt/mud road and it takes you to a spot where you can stop and watch grizzly bears eating from a river. There are armed guards with big big guns. A boardwalk sort of structure that is just above and beside the river. It was pretty amazing to watch these big huge bears grabbing salmon out of the water and gorging themselves with them.

Hopefully now I have you googling Hyder Alaska, it’s a must see!