Today I read the Alaska Airline inflight magazine

I want to go to Alaska. I wish I were more outdoorsy. I should have taken advantage of the Boy Scouts in my life and gone on a wilderness trip or two. I can't even remember the last time I went camping. I think it was in 2006 with 5 other girls at the dunes in MI. The campsite had an electrical outlet and we brought a coffee maker. I love being stripped of options and brought to the bare minimums of survival, freed from the worry of what to eat and wear. I think that's why I thought China was more fun than the Philippines. Inconvenience = fun.

I wish God would take away all the options and I'd know where to live and work, and what and who to love. I love getting gifts and pretty much hate buying my own choices, especially when they cost a lot. I'm very good at gifts; I'm very trusting that they will always be good, which I owe to my father and Father.

But anyway, I want go to Alaska. I always seem to select seemingly arbitrary locations that I want to go to, for seemingly simplistic reasons, but I like to believe that my soul is leading me where I should be. So now it's bears, snow, mountains, long road trips, bed & breakfasts, and the culture of survival. At least that's what I imagine. But I've never been there and I don't really know if it's all like that, so I should probably read a little about it before we leave. I know there's a Russian center called Sitka that sounds fun. It's in Southeast Alaska, which is a region on the coast of Western Canada that I just found out existed.