Destination: Alaska

Welcome to Flyover America

United States Map Photo by Marxchivist, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Photo by Marxchivist, via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Hi. We are Sophia Dembling and Jenna Schnuer. Sophia lives in Dallas, Texas (but was Manhattan born and reared), and Jenna in Queens, NY (aka “not Manhattan”), and we are both writers who are in love with America. Every diner and prairie and highway of it. The places that many people consider flyover territory—Lincoln, Nebraska; Lubbock Texas; Bayonne, New Jersey, and the like—grab hold of us. Flyover America is as much a state of mind as a place. We like to think of it as anywhere in America that isn’t Manhattan or L.A. Flyover America is packed with stories, discoveries and soul. And it’s got some great malls, too.

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Morning Links: Robots Around the World, ‘Pizza Huh’ and More

reimagined WPA poster Design by Open.
WPA poster, reimagined by Open.


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‘Can You Really See Russia From Alaska?’

Following Sarah Palin’s recent comments about her “next-door neighbors,” inquiring minds want to know. And the answer? Yep, says Slate. Details on the where and how are in the latest Explainer.

Related on World Hum:
* How Does Sarah Palin Rank in Foreign Travel Experience?*

Photo by jomilo75 via Flickr (Creative Commons)


Fake Sarah Palin: I Was an Extra in ‘Into the Wild’

She says she played a grizzly bear in Sean Penn’s movie. Her riff about it begins a minute into the video below.

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How Does Sarah Palin Rank in Foreign Travel Experience?*

Inquiring traveler minds want to know. Of course, John McCain earned big points in our U.S. Presidential Candidates Travel Scorecard earlier this year. And while we’ve yet to complete a full analysis of his new running mate, initial reports on the Alaska governor are not promising.

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Volcanic Ash Causes Alaska Airlines to Cancel Flights

Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian Islands erupted on Thursday, and the resulting “towering plume of ash” has caused an impediment for flights to Alaska, Reuters reports.

Related on World Hum:
* Letter to a Volcano


Denali National Park Buses Going Hybrid?

Tests have begun to replace Denali National Park’s fleet of “noisy, carbon dioxide-spewing diesel” engine buses, as the AP puts it, with new hybrid vehicles. If they’re adopted, it would improve what’s already one of the most impressive outdoors experiences in the U.S. Except for a few days a year, visitors can only travel the Denali Park Road in one of the park’s 110 buses.

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Moose and Midnight Sunsets: A Father-Son Drive up the Alaska-Canadian Highway

Moose and Midnight Sunsets: A Father-Son Drive up the Alaska-Canadian Highway Photo by stevelyon via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Fifty years ago, Roger Norum’s father and grandfather drove the Alaska-Canadian Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, Alaska. In this Guardian essay, Norum and his father re-create the trip—and drive each other just a little crazy in the process. It’s a fun read.

Photo by stevelyon via Flickr (Creative Commons)


‘Into the Wild’ McCandless Pilgrims Descending on Remote Bus

Last October we noted that locals in Healy, Alaska, were considering removing the old bus where Christopher McCandless died. They feared that people moved by John Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild” and Sean Penn’s movie adaptation would tramp 22 miles into the wilderness to see the bus, only to wind up in the same kind of trouble McCandless did. Well, the bus is still there—it has long served as a refuge for hunters—and the AP reports that, with temperatures rising, plenty of people are indeed making the trek or inquiring about it.

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World Hum Travel Movie Club: ‘Into The Wild’

By now, you know the story. In 1990, a 22-year-old college grad named Christopher McCandless renounced his privileged upbringing, adopted the nom de drifter Alexander Supertramp, and turned to a new life of vagabonding. Two years later, Alaskan moose hunters found his corpse in an abandoned Fairbanks city bus outside Denali National Park. Jon Krakauer pieced together Chris’s odyssey and wrote the bestseller Into the Wild. Sean Penn‘s movie version of the book, which hit theaters last fall, arrives today on DVD. Eva Holland and Eli Ellison gave the disc a spin, exchanged e-mails and debated Hollywood’s adaptation of Into the Wild in the debut of the World Hum Travel Movie Club.

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‘Iconoclasts’: Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn in Alaska

It’s not often that an outdoor/adventure writer like Jon Krakauer gets more than a sound bite of TV time to talk about writing and the outdoors. So I was eager to see the latest installment in the Sundance Channel series “Iconoclasts.” The show features Krakauer and actor/filmmaker/provocateur Sean Penn traveling to Alaska, talking writing and filmmaking. The pair reflect on the life of Chris McCandless, the subject of Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” which Penn just turned into a film. They make a pilgrimage to the bus where McCandless spent his final days. Afterward, Krakauer shows Penn the ropes of ice climbing and they talk life philosophy. It turned out to be a pretty good, thoughtful hour of television.

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Out of the Wild? Alaskan Town Considers Removing McCandless Bus

Future “McCandless pilgrims” could be in for a disappointment. The Alaskan town of Healy, located about 40 kilometers from the old school bus where Christopher McCandless died, is considering the removal, restoration or destruction of the bus before the next wave of greenhorns, inspired by the recent film adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” arrive to pay tribute.

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‘Into the Wild’: Has the Truth About Christopher McCandless Been Lost?

As the hype for Sean Penn’s movie adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” grows, and Outside revisits one of its most famous stories, Men’s Journal has weighed in with a less-reverent take on the life of Christopher McCandless. Matthew Power asks: “Was his death a Shakespearean tragedy or a pitch-black comedy of errors? What impact has the tale and its renown had on our perception of Alaska? And perhaps most tantalizingly: Did Krakauer, and now Penn, get key parts of the story wrong?”

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Outside Magazine Returns ‘Into the Wild’

Based on Outside’s coverage of Sean Penn’s upcoming film adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” I’m upgrading my hopes about its quality. Christopher Keyes visited the set and compiled an oral history of the making of the movie for the September issue. He reveals that Penn has the support of the family of the movie’s subject, Christopher McCandless, and was apparently meticulous with the details of the story.

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The U.S. Taxicab Capital is…Bethel, Alaska?

Likely so. Bethel, a city of 5,900 located about 400 miles west of Anchorage, has one cab for every 84 people, according to the AP. New York City has one cab for every 149 people. Bethel owes its cab-happy status to its geography: It’s ringed by thousands of ponds and you can’t drive in or out of town.

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