The Lady never lies

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

Always trust the Lady. She won't let you down.

As I drove to the airport Thursday night, I shot a glance over to Mount Susitna, better known as Sleeping Lady. She wasn't even visible, with the haze and clouds covering her up. You could barely see any of the mountains, really, and I was disappointed. "Some first impression," I thought to myself.

Alaskans take great pride in their state, perhaps more pride than people from other states. When we get first-time visitors, such as was the case for me on Thursday, we want Alaska to show off. We want the inlet water to sparkle with sun, we want the mountains to tower over us, we want the beauty of Alaska to come through the minute people walk through the corridors of Ted Stevens International Airport.

After picking up the visitors, we got them settled into their hotel room, and headed out for dinner at the Snow Goose Caf/ in Anchorage. We ate dinner on the patio, enjoying a view of the inlet in the evening.

"Over there, you can kinda make out the mountain," I said, pointing over to Mount Susitna. "Trust me, it's beautiful. The weather has been perfect for a week," I added, trying to sell Alaska to two people who have saved their money for a year to come. They are traveling the entire state in two weeks, and they'll have a great time. Still, I wanted that first impression to be grand.

After a round of handcrafted beer, the sun popped out for the first time in hours, and a view of the Chugach Mountains resulted. Our burgers got to the table, and by the time they were finished, patches of blue were visible in the sky, the Chugach Mountains were completely visible to the other side of the city, and that outline of Sleeping Lady was coming into focus. After a short walk to my truck, the Lady obliged and the clouds lifted for a spectacular view. It's as if she was waiting for just the right moment to finally show off.

Tuckered out from a day of flying, the visitors finally got settled into their room around 10:30 p.m. Of course they wanted to know how to sleep with all the daylight, and they were asking all the normal tourist questions. I was happy to play tour guide for the night, like most Alaskans are when they get first-time visitors. We're darn proud of what we have, thank you very much, and we should be.

Their travels will take them from Anchorage to Homer and back to Denali, with a trip across the Denali Highway planned. From there, they plan to go to Valdez before returning to Anchorage to fly back to Chicago at the end of the month.

Undoubtedly, they will get to see things they've never seen before, and there will be more than one spectacular view or two along the way. I'll catch up with them in a few days, down on the Peninsula, and then again next week here in the Valley. But that's inconsequential. I wanted them to go to sleep on their first night in Alaska knowing they picked the greatest place in the world to spend the next two weeks -- a place where we get to spend our entire lives.

"Do you think you'll ever leave Wasilla?" they asked as we drove to the hotel.

"Perhaps some day. But I'll never leave Alaska," I told them. Pointing out over the inlet to the Talkeetna Mountains, they knew they didn't have to ask me why. The answer was right there.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor. He finds the fishing even better than the scenery.