Alaska, the last frontier!

Wow, the scenery is beautiful here. One minute I'm surfing on the coast of California, and the next I'm struggling to keep warm deep in mountains of the Alaskan wilderness. It's roughly 20 degrees or so, but the wind makes it almost unbearable. None of the seven of us have ever had the chance to come to Alaska, and it's such a privilege to be able to travel to such an extreme doing what we love. We flew from L.A. to Anchorage, Alaska where we had the opportunity to play a concert at University of Alaska.
I've always loved the great outdoors and this has made our fall tour such an incredible experience. We learned so much about the state (which, really, doesn't feel at all like it is part of the U.S...) and couldn't be more thankful for the experience. One morning we took off for a radio interview to promote the concert before heading off on a journey to see what we could find in the mountains. Just the drive in itself was breath taking. The snow capped mountains surrounded us as we drove along an inlet shore taking pictures while keeping an eye out for bear and other animals. Although we did see a spout from a surfacing whale, we didn't come across any other wildlife until we stopped at a wildlife conservation center. The conservation area is there to help rehabilitate wild animals and young orphaned animals that wouldn't have a chance in the wild without some help from people. For us, it was a great way to get up close and see some incredible wildlife in it's natural environment with the short time we had in Alaska. We saw brown bears, bison, elk, musk ox, caribou and even fed a baby moose. (Not a good idea to try in the wild....) I wish we had more time to hangout in Alaska, and it was a great adventure for all of us.
We enjoyed some great food and company at a few local restaurants and had caribou burgers, elk burgers, Alaskan black halibut tacos, and other interesting foods that none of us had really tried before. This morning I set out from our hotel in the city to find a cup of coffee and came across several people going into a big conference center. Inside was a huge room just jam packed with people and natives who were selling crafts, jewelry, animal furs, photos, salmon jerky and all kinds of interesting things. Just walking through the isles was a culture lesson in itself. Hunting seals, whales, and other animals is just a way of life for these people, and I'm just amazed at how they can survive such harsh environments. My ears are still cold after writing this, and I'm ready to fly back to L.A. and be in the sun once again!