When you’re starting a long term relationship, there are some important questions you need to discuss with your partner. What are your values and goals, how will you resolve conflicts, et cetera.

One topic that is often overlooked is:

“How do you feel about icebergs?”

Sarah and I never discussed this in those early days, and the omission has been causing us grief ever since. Every time we encounter large chunks of ice floating in the water, we argue.

I like the ice, she likes it less. I want to go closer, she wants to go further. She thinks I’m some kind of pagophagic abominable snowmaphile, while I think she needs to seek therapy for post Titanic stress disorder.

I’m sure you can relate.

Thankfully our relationship only navigates icebergs every decade or so, and we’ve managed to survive this latest encounter.

South Central Alaska has ice in abundance, in and around it’s many glaciers. The kids have enjoyed capturing small bergy bits in a net.

An internet search for “fun projects with icebergs”, returned disappointing results, so we were on our own creatively. We attempted to make icecream using the bergs, but this failed (deliciously). After that we tried to make shaved iceberg snow cones.

West took the first sip and, “Ugh!”, he screwed up his face, “it tastes like rusty drill bits!”

Fascinating. I guess the originating glacier scraped over an iron ore deposit a thousand years ago which ultimately tainted our flavor.

Pro tip: Thoroughly clean your drill bits before attempting to make DIY shaved iceberg snow cones.

We eventually achieved better results by just hitting the ice with a hammer and mixing the shrapnel with some juice cordial.

I can’t say anyone was particularly craving a fancy frozen beverage as we sat shivering in the glacial fjords of Icy Bay, but when you don’t have a freezer, you must sieze these opportunities as they arise.

Other than the Alaskan ice we’ve also enjoyed the Alaskan people. Sarah and I were walking on a dirt backroad in a tiny community when we passed the quintessential Alaskan man. Get a mental image in your head, then see if it matches my description.

This guy was wearing dusty jeans and a long sleeved blue plaid shirt. He had a huge brown beard and scruffy hair coming out from his old ballcap.

Close?

He was also cruising along the road on a one-wheel, wearing headphones, and head banging to his music really enthusiastically. Quintessentially awesome.

We met another local guy on a dock, and after a few minutes of conversation he said: “Do you guys fly? I’ve got a plane if you want to borrow one.”

Offering total strangers the unsupervised use of your airplane implies a level of trust and generosity that must only exist in rural Alaska.

Since we don’t fly he offered to pilot us himself. Later in the conversation he mentioned he didn’t have a license, he’d just figured it out from YouTube.

“Taking off is easy”, he joked.

I love Alaska.

Next stop: The Panhandle!

Some photos…