A Cheechako in the Last Frontier
The (mis)adventures of Hank & Gosia Nuwer in Fairbanks:
Award-winning columns from Ohio & Indiana & Alaska
Golden Heart Tales
The Nenana Depot’s lodgings are a step back in time; a close call in Maui by Hank Nuwer
Many years ago, on assignment for the AARP, Country Gentleman and Outside magazines, I stayed at more than a dozen century-old hotels in the American West. Some like the Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona, were under renovation at the time, but their lobbies and dining...
Belong anywhere with Airbnb: Except Salcha, Alaska
My wife Gosia and I decided to take a working vacation in Alaska early in October 2021. We landed in Anchorage and rented our usual small SUV and drove toward Kenai where I needed to do a routine freelance writing assignment. Weather that month brought cold...
Leszek Nazieme: Rolling on the Yukon River
An adventurer from Poland came to Alaska to complete his latest swimming challenge. Leszek Nazieme swam the Yukon River from Eagle to Circle, completing the 158-mile swim in 4½ days. Nazieme said his inspiration for his adventures came years ago on a stay in the Czech...
Beer and salmon: A Perfect Pairing
Have you heard about the salmon scientific experiment underway in Oregon? Hakai magazine reports that field researchers may have found a way to persuade hatchery fish to swim upstream back to their hatchery home the way wild young salmon do. Now, as a cheechako to...
Gosia and I were in Romeo and Juliet, July 28, 29, 30, 2023 at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Romeo and Juliet opened with Shakespeare’s oft-recited prologue as the entire cast assembles. Photo by Bryan Kramer Review by Selena Moore “Romeo and Juliet” is arguably Shakespeare’s most well known play. There are numerous film adaptations, it’s the inspiration for...
Sweet Bull of Youth
The celebration of the Golden Days Rodeo, the northernmost rodeo in America, takes me back to 2004 and my own rodeo adventure. After my marriage of two decades blew up, I chucked my living room furniture and put in a gym complete with metallic torture contraptions and...
