Home » Travel » Alaska/Northern Canada » Winter Pick-Me-Up

Winter Pick-Me-Up

© Sandy McCollum

Tap-tap-tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Laura, a pretty blonde Australia-born visitor from southern California. I was at Wendy's apartment to meet her foreign friend for the first time and Wendy was in the bathroom. Without a word at first, Laura motioned me over to the window with her and she pointed outside. I looked at Wendy's courtyard, empty except for the dead salmonberry and aspen leaves from trees in the neighboring courtyards. Opaque grey skies lent tiny white flakes of snow that filtered easily down through perfectly still cold air. It didn't melt when it touched the ground and made me think it must have gotten colder since I'd arrived.

"Is it snow?" Laura asked with great anxiety and a noticeable gleam in her eyes. I smiled with a knowing of what was coming, getting excited then, myself.

"Have you ever seen snow before?"

"Only in pictures, I was hoping I'd see some when I came up here," Laura said, that gleam still radiating from blue eyes that were glued to the outside air and an ear-to-ear grin froze across her face. "Is it going to snow a lot?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "We'll have to keep an eye on it and see what happens."

Living in this small coastal resort town gives me opportunity to meet people from all over the world all the time. I'm probably in more vacation photo albums than Carter has liver pills. Since people come here from all over to experience the Last Great Frontier, there is also occasion for me to meet someone who's never seen snow before. I can't tell you of a greater joy to watch happen to another adult, than to see someone seeing snow for the first time. Even the most reserved will cut lose with some awe and wonderment.

Personally, I found it disappointing to see snow so early in the year, but that meant nothing as it turned to near white-out conditions in the following few hours and three inches didn't take long to build up. When the wind died down, Laura got brave enough to try it and put an extra pair of socks on under her hiking boots. We urged her to wear Wendy's snow-boots and she took them gladly. We piled layers of clothing on her and snapped her up tight, and then we led her out the door. She stopped at the edge of the porch and felt the flakes on her face, blinking as they hit her. With a mittened hand she scooped a little from the porch's hand-rail and looked at it closely.

The copyright of the article Winter Pick-Me-Up in Alaska/Northern Canada is owned by Sandy McCollum. Permission to republish Winter Pick-Me-Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.