When autumn passes overnight: the magic and sadness of Alaska
Having lived in Alaska for almost eight years, there are still things that amaze me — and that completely stump people from elsewhere. Such things could be listed for hours, because life in different corners of the world is so radically different.
One of them is autumn in Alaska.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to accept how quickly it ends. You just notice the first yellow leaves on the trees — and the next morning everything is already covered in snow. We’re used to watching how slowly nature transitions into another season. But that’s not the case in Alaska. Here, a new season arrives like a storm — and disappears just as fast.
On average, autumn here lasts about two weeks.
Can you imagine? Two weeks! What can you even see in that time? It feels like the last rush before the long, dark winter. And people really make the most of it! This is the time when everyone says to themselves:
“We need to take one more walk in Alaska — go on a trip, catch salmon for the winter, breathe in the warm air…”
Because very soon we’ll be living only with memories — the ones we’ve gathered over the summer and the short autumn.
Autumn in Alaska is magical.
I don’t know where there’s a more beautiful one — the brightest, most flawless, untouched beauty.
Of course, it may seem that everyone praises their own place, like a mother who loves her child even if it hasn’t lived up to expectations. The same often happens with one’s homeland… But no!
Everyone who has ever lived in Alaska leaves a piece of their soul here. That’s just how this place is — it enchants everyone. And autumn is exactly like that here.
Actually, autumn is my husband’s favorite season. He’s lived here for 27 years. Once I asked him:
— Why autumn?
He smiled and answered simply:
— Because it’s so short that you never have time to enjoy it. It only teases us with its beauty — and leaves...
We remain captivated by its charm, hoping that next time it will be a little kinder to us and stay at least one more day.
As they say, hope dies last.
We humans are strange, aren’t we?
We always love what we have the least — or don’t have at all.
But perhaps that’s what makes life interesting, not boring. That’s what gives us the desire to reach for something new and better — just as Alaskans try to make the most of their last autumn moments in places they’ve never been before.