Hawaii & Alaska
Back in 1959, on this date, Hawaii was admitted to the union as our 50th state. It’s admission to statehood followed on the heals of Alaska being admitted earlier that same year in January (seems appropriate that Alaska be admitted in the dead of winter while Hawaii during the heat of summer). Our grade school teachers obviously discussed these milestone events during our classes; however, at the time, I really never imagined traveling to those far-away new states. But if there was such a thing as a bucket lists back then, visiting Hawaii & Alaska would have been on it. In fact, traveling to all 50 states was a goal that I met years later, including several memorable visits to the two newest states.
The first opportunity came in the winter of 1976 during a business trip to Japan while working for Ford. Planes in those days had limited fuel range, so after leaving on a Sunday evening, the flight stopped at Juneau airport in Alaska to refuel. We were allowed to get off the plane for an hour or so to look around the airport and buy a souvenir or two. It was too dark outside to see much of anything. On the other hand, for the return trip, we flew to Hawaii on Friday evening after a week's work, arriving Saturday morning for a wonderful two day stay. At that time, company policy allowed such a stay to “help one's body adjust to a 13 hour time change between Japan and the US”. Needless to say, with direct flights now commonplace along with corporate cost cutting, that practice is history. Our Hawaiian stop-over was special as we had a chance to visit the Pearl Harbor Memorial, spend some time on Waikiki next to Diamond Head and attend a luau on the beach in Honolulu.
The weather was a tropical 80 degrees both days. I recall having a new leather overcoat that I left somewhere in Hawaii - surely didn’t need it there - until I got home to freezing temperatures and and suddenly realized it was gone!
Another trip to Hawaii occurred on our 25th wedding anniversary in 1997 which we celebrated on the island of Maui at Kapalua Resort, where the inaugural PGA golf tournament is held each year. I was able to play the course with my wife riding along enjoying the scenery while I golfed.
Many of the holes overlooked the bay between Maui and Molokai, as did our villa in the resort. It was fun watching the whales jump out of the water in the crystal blue bay under cloudless skies.
My son, his friend and I traveled to Alaska the year I retired for some salmon and halibut fishing and sightseeing during July. I recall it being daylight 24 hours at that time of year. The fishing was fantastic. We took a charter tour out of Anchorage to catch some halibut and view a calving glacier. Halibut lay flat on the bottom of the bay so have two eyes on one side of their head. Hooking one was easy, but landing it was another story. It was like pulling up a 4x8 sheet of plywood from 100’ below the surface.
Salmon fishing was also a challenge, as the salmon were swimming upstream through rushing rivers heading toward their birthplace to spawn and then die. As a result, they really weren’t hungry so bait didn’t work. Instead a brightly colored- weighted hook was used to cast right in front of the visible salmon, ideally hitting them in the nose irritating them enough that they would snap at the colored object and get hooked. It took a lot of practice to eventually get the hang of it. The best part was having a shore lunch after a good morning of fishing.
We also experienced a fantastic sightseeing aerial tour around Denali National Park.
All-in-all, I’d say Alaska and Hawaii were fantastic additions to our nation. Unlikely, there won’t be any more new states to add to my bucket list before I “kick the bucket”, although occasionally the Youpers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula threaten to split off, and of course, there are the crazies in California who want to divide into three states or split off entirely; aka San Andres fault!
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