“But in case you havent’ heard, Alaska’s the real thing, the last truly free place on this whole continent.”

• T.C. Boyle, Drop City

In August 2018, a group of friends and I went up to Alaska to visit our friends Andy and Jess who lived in a yurt not far from Anchorage. We zoomed up and down the wonderfully empty highways in our rented minivan to find one postcard-perfect view after another. I hate when people go on and on about finding the places “only locals know about” when they travel, but Jess and Andy knew what would make any visitor the happiest: a hidden waterfall in the middle of a neighborhood, an honor-system pottery shop in the forest, an incredible meal prepared by their friends that included this smoked cabbage I still think about. We finished the trip in Whittier, the town where everyone lives in a single building, and went kayaking out in Prince William Sound, stopping to see the salmon spawning. Alaska is even bigger than you think — if it were a country, it would be the 33rd largest country in the world — and I think we all want to go back to see more.