What's this all about? About me, I guess, and my pending winter in rural Alaska. I've fallen in love, you see, with a place. 60-miles away from pavement. Four hours from a grocery store. One look out the window from snow-capped peaks and snow-muffled silence. Who are you? I'm Erin. I grew up in a small town in Missouri, where my feet never really felt satisfied. So I decided to go. To college to Germany. To Barcelona and Morocco. To Colorado and Oregon. Go, go, go. I think I was looking for something; the right way to live my life maybe (there are so many ways!). I haven't found it yet, but I have found a place. A magical, odd-ball, feet-sticking place: McCarthy and the Wrangells.
Where are you? I'm living in a small cabin with my partner and too many book shelves. We don't have running water or indoor plumbing. We heat the place with a wood stove. I fight to find space to do yoga each morning, and there is a foot of snow outside. I've never been in Alaska in the winter; in fact, I usually hate winter. I guess it's a bit of a challenge; an attempt at simplicity and minimalism. I want to share it with you: my struggles, my triumphs, the art I make, the discoveries I stumble into. And the people, the amazing, tough, sweet, intelligent people who live in this magical snow globe at the end of the road.
What can I get out of this? Here's to living the type of life that makes me happy, and not the type of life that makes me successful. Hopefully, I will have a life of both one day. Read on, my friend, if you're curious about my weird stumble into off-the-grid Alaskan living. I know I am.