My family and I recently returned from a lengthy visit to the east coast. Our goals were to catch up with our relatives and to give Melissa and me the opportunity to show some of our favorite sites to our offspring. Our travel was, by all accounts, the most convenient of all our family trips yet taken. Everything proceeded smoothly and we all enjoyed ourselves.
My wife’s family lives in Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia area. Our youngest is an artist and was interested in seeing unique architectural features of the city. He hoped to gain inspiration for backgrounds in his graphic novels. We were fortunate to have Melissa’s brother, an architect, lead us on a tour of notable sites in the city. On our tour we stopped by the celebrated LOVE sculpture. Unfortunately, at the time of day when we took the photo, we had to look into the Sun. We were actually much happier than our facial expressions might suggest.
My mother’s family is from New York, in the Oswego area. While in the area, we toured Fort Ontario and stopped at Peglow Park, which was named after one of my mother’s maternal ancestors. For consistency, we arranged it that the Sun would be in our eyes, again.
We looked around the campus of SUNY Oswego, my alma mater, and made sure to stop for dinner at Rudy’s. Perched on the lake shore at the edge of campus, Rudy’s is a seafood restaurant popular with college students and local residents, alike.
As much as there are obvious differences in the architecture and the contents of the cities, the most extreme difference between the east coast and Fairbanks is in the very air, itself. The eastern states have an oppressive humidity greatly in contrast to what we are accustomed to in Alaska. Fairbanks has a wonderfully dry climate. Even when it rains, you can dry off and not feel damp. When you breathe, the air has no viscosity and your lungs feel cool. To us, our visit to the east coast felt like an extended steam bath. The air had a tangible weight and left a layer of damp on the skin that quickly renewed itself whenever rubbed away.
To illustrate this dichotomy, I took representative pictures. The lefthand picture shows the view from a hill in Lancaster, PA, during our visit. The humidity entirely obscures the surroundings after only a few miles. The righthand picture shows the view from a hill in Fairbanks, AK, on a normal summer day. The drier air allows the mountains to remain in sharp relief even at the distance of 250 miles.
As much as we enjoyed our vacation travel and the time with our relatives, it was a physical relief to return home. On the day we departed, it was 95F in Philadelphia and the air was so humid that the air conditioned air in the plane was cool enough to make the warm outdoor air turn to fog. When I first noticed the tendrils reaching into the cabin, I was a bit alarmed!
When we arrived in Fairbanks, it was 56F, and had just stopped raining. Even so, we all felt comfortably cool and dry.
It is good to hear that you enjoyed both chapters of your vacation in the East.
Try Autumn someday – less humidity!
Try Winter someday – less snow!
Try Spring – longer and warmer than Fairbanks!