Exploring Nature: Alaska Ice

This hot weather reminds me of the best iced tea I ever had.

I was somewhere in the wilds of Alaska, at an isolated tourist lodge which I had reached by flying in on a pontoon-equipped airplane from Fairbanks. The plane landed in a river and taxied up to a wooden dock in front of the ledge.

After settling in, we all gathered for dinner at an outside stone grill with blackened iron bars over smoldering embers. I noticed fat was dripping down on the bars and asked the proprietor how he kept the grill cleaned. I imagined he would say he used some sort of abrasive.

“I let the bears take care of that,” he informed me. “They come up at night and get it clean as a whistle.”

Then we were served glasses of iced tea with big chunks of ice in each glass.

“That doesn’t look like refrigerator ice,” someone commented.

“No, indeed,” he said. “I break it off from a glacier just up the river. It’s receding slowly, but should last out my lifetime.”

The ice was crystal clear and I’ve never had better iced tea. However, though I hate to nit-pick, I must say the beef that was grilled that evening was just okay. Alaska still can’t beat Texas when it comes to grilling meat.

But we probably can’t match them when it comes to efficient grill cleaners and nature-made ice cubes.