Ed Goes To Alaska
By Jeannine Patané • 2 November 2006

     No seat belt required, not for the dead, anyway. Grandpa Ed always wanted to go to Alaska. He’s been a bag of ashes for over 20 years; I thought it was time to take him out of the attic and bring him on his long-desired trip. North to Alaska we went.
     He had a good flight and arrived no worse for the wear. The following day Grandpa Ed was my passenger as we drove around Fairbanks. He accompanied me while I took care of a few errands, then we did some sightseeing. We went to the Chena River, the west-flowing river that snakes through Fairbanks, and we took in the view along the pedestrian bridge. I let Ed know some facts about the Chena.

     The Chena River contributes itself into the larger, glacially fed and braided Tanana River. Follow the Tanana down river, and you will meet the confluent, mighty Yukon River. The Yukon’s source begins in Canada, and with roughly 2,000 miles of travel, this river has numerous tributaries feeding it water and sediment. Millions of tons of silt is transported by the Yukon on its way to the delta, and into Norton Sound and the Bering Sea. Ocean currents and migrating whales eventually mix the Northern waters with the warmer water of the Pacific Ocean. As most of the earth is covered by water, it will all mix together given enough time.
     Tracing this flow brings me to where I last saw Grandma Lila, diving down into the warm Pacific waters off the coast of Mexico. Ed will rest here in Alaska for now, but eventually, the natural elements that be, could bring them back together.