Almost every pilot has at least one “bucket list” trip—a journey they dream of taking one day before they hang up their wings. For many of us, those big trips remain stuck in a future “someday,” as in: someday when there’s enough time or enough money. For 54-year-old Eclipse 500 owner Shari Meyer, that “someday” trip was Alaska. “Not the cruise-ship Alaska,” she is quick to clarify. “Not the train Alaska. I wanted to see the real Alaska.”
The trip remained a dream for the future until this past summer, when a lodging snag foiled her annual trek to EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh. Although initially disappointed, she recognized an opportunity: Why not use the money set aside for Oshkosh to make that long-dreamed-of flight to the forty-ninth state? She approached her husband and fellow pilot, Ken Meyer, about the idea. A history buff, Ken became enthusiastic about the plan upon learning the Japanese had bombed Dutch Harbor, Alaska, during World War II and that today, a museum and many of the original bunkers can be seen there.
On June 28, 2014, Shari Meyer’s “someday” became “now.” That morning, she and Ken fired up the engines on their Eclipse in Bellingham, Washington (BLI), and pointed the little jet north. Two fuel stops and 1,410 nm later, they landed in King Salmon, a village roughly 300 miles southwest of Anchorage.
What followed were nine days of rugged adventure, heart-stopping views, and quiet disconnection from the fast-paced life of the contiguous United States. Take the bears, for instance—the highlight of the trip for Shari, an amateur photographer. On their first morning in Alaska, the Meyers hopped aboard a seaplane in King Salmon for the short flight to Katmai National Park. After the required “bear orientation,” in which they were instructed on how to behave on an island whose bear population numbers in the thousands, the Meyers spent the day watching brown bears chase schools of migrating salmon. They saw a mother bear teach her offspring how to fish. And Shari snapped photos at Brooks Falls, where male bears jockeyed for the best fishing spots, snatched fish from the falls, and ate them right there in the water.
They stayed overnight in the park on bunk beds and returned the next day to King Salmon before departing in the Eclipse for Dutch Harbor.
In addition to being chock-full of little-known history, Dutch Harbor is home of the largest fishing port in the United States. The TV show Deadliest Catch is filmed from there, and fans of the show know the town is often shrouded in fog or drizzle. “How the Japanese found it in World War II, I have no idea,” says Shari. Very few GA pilots find it today. “They weren’t really set up for GA,” she says of the airport. “We had to park where the airlines park, then go in through the terminal.” To refuel, they stood in line at the airline ticket counter and, between one passenger and another checking in for a flight, the Meyers put in an order for fuel.
While Dutch Harbor’s history was everything Ken hoped for, his trip highlight was a hike on their last full day in Alaska. They were in Yakutat, a tiny fishing village accessible only by air and sea, and on a fisherman’s recommendation trekked to a nearby lake on a rare clear day. Not sure what to expect, they were stunned to emerge at a scene pulled from the pages of a calendar or thick-papered coffee-table book: white-tipped mountains, rich vegetation, and a blue-tinted glacier calving with a sound like thunder at intervals into the lake.
It was the ideal culmination of their Alaska trip: a breathtaking scene in a state of breathtaking scenery. A no-frills hike on a journey of no frills, where a room with a bathroom in it, rather than down the hall, was a prize to be treasured. And yet, it was in part the simplicity and disconnectedness of their Alaska destinations that made each stop seem a luxury in this era of always-on communication.
Arriving back home on July 6, the couple was plunged headlong back into that stream of communication and responsibilities—but not before Shari put a new checkmark on her bucket list, savoring the satisfaction that “someday” was now a journey rich with photos and memories.
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