Outdoor Diary: A Happy ‘Alaska Day’ to You

Jump To section

Alaska Day is the perfect to contemplate what we love about living in Alaska. When it happens to correspond with the first snowfall of the year? Well, how could we not talk about Alaska Day — and even sing for you. 

Enjoy this episode of the Outdoor Diary and the only time you’ll probably ever hear Amy do this.

Some of the good stuff:

[:45] What is Alaska Day?

[1:05] How the Bushatz family wound up in Alaska

[2:47] Why Amy is still in Alaska

[3:22] This week’s Outdoor Hero

[4:21] Alaska’s official song

Connect with this episode:

Here’s an edited transcript of this installment of Amy’s Outdoor Diary on The Humans Outside Podcast. Listen to the episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. 

They called it “Seward’s folly,” — the purchase of Alaska from the Russians. And while the deal was struck in late March of 1867, it wasn’t until Oct. 18 that the delegates from the U.S. arrived in Sikta to make the transfer formal. 

That’s why Oct. 18 is recognized as Alaska Day. It’s a paid holiday for state employees, celebrating the purchase of Alaska and, really, us living here. This year Oct. 18 was also the first snow where I live, and it had me all up in my feels about how grateful I am to live in this beautiful and challenging place.

Many of you know our Alaska story, but in case you don’t, here’s the brief version. Back in 2015 things in the Bushatz house were categorically not good. Luke was dealing with a lot of hidden war injury stuff — which we had realized was PTSD and mild traumatic brain injury — and by “dealing with” I mean he was not dealing with it. So they were doing what those things always do when you don’t deal with them: getting worse.

In the summer of 2015 we realized that if we didn’t make a major life change we were not going to make it as a family. So Luke decided to get out of the active duty Army, which really gave us the opportunity to move anywhere we wanted, since my full time job as the executive editor of Military.com is not really location dependent. 

We also knew that spending time outside did good things for us as a family and him as someone trying to sort through those issues. So we decided to pick somewhere very outdoor centric. As I turned a corner in our neighborhood in Tennessee one day it dawned on me — why not consider Alaska?

We had never been to Alaska. We didn’t even know whether we knew anyone in Alaska. But we knew we were ready for a big life change, and we knew we were ready to move somewhere where we could focus on spending more time outside. Even the idea of  Alaska seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up.

And if it didn’t work out, what’s the worst that could happen? We get here, hate it, and then eventually move away?

So we packed the station wagon — literally — let the Army move some of our stuff, sold the rest of it and, on Memorial Day 2016, hit the road to Alaska, moving here sight-unseen.

It was the best decision I’ve ever made. 

The effort it took to move to Alaska is something I remember every day that I’m tempted to look around and be ungrateful for the place of the weather. So, on a week last week when it was just cold and gross, I remember that I moved here because I wanted to and I live here because I love it. I remember that I can overcome the bad attitude the weather sometimes tries to give me by remembering the intentionality with which I am determined to live here. 

On Alaska Day this year the just cold late fall weather turned, just like that, to winter with the first snow. One of my days of outdoor time last week included sitting in the hot tub after dark, watching the incredible stars come out on a dark, clear night. There was the dipper, the bear and the great North Star. Alaska is outdoor hero enough for me any day. 

Alaska’s state song, was adopted in 1955 by the then-territorial legislature. It was written by Marie Drake, who worked for the Alaska Department of Education, and set to music composed by Elinor Dusenbury, a military spouse whose husband commanded Chilkoot Barracks in Haines, Alaska from 1933 and 1936. The first time I heard this song I cried — it was that beautiful to me. I tried to find a recording I could legally share with you here, but I can’t — and though I am no professional singer, I want to share it with you so much that I am actually going to sing it for you. That’s how much I love it. I will probably never sing for you again, so enjoy. 

Alaska’s Official Song

Eight stars of gold on a field of blue,

Alaska’s flag, may it mean to you,

The blue of the sea, the evening sky,

The mountain lakes and the flowers nearby,

The gold of the early sourdough’s dreams,

The precious gold of the hills and streams,

The brilliant stars in the northern sky,

The “Bear,” the “Dipper,” and shining high,

The great North Star with its steady light,

O’er land and sea a beacon bright,

Alaska’s flag to Alaskans dear,

The simple flag of a last frontier.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

FOLLOW US

Jump To section

Categories

FEATURED POSTS

Humans Outside Instagram

How does spending at least 20 consecutive minutes outside every single day since Sept. 1, 2017 change your life? 

We’re on a mission to find out.

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
There has been a problem with your Instagram Feed.

JOIN Us Today

THE HUMANS OUTSIDE NEWSLETTER

Keep up with the latest podcast episodes, resources and announcements

Shop

Home

Podcasts

Menu