We Honeymoon at the World Trade Center And Now It’s 18 Years Later. What’s Happened?
©Bert Gildart: Janie and I were married 18 years ago and today, we’re reminiscing, recalling as we drive across country once again that some of the things we did shortly after our marriage on May 4th can not be done today.
At the time of our wedding, we were surrounded by family and friends and were married in New York by Methodist minister Tom Vancus, who had hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail the previous year. Upon tying the knot, Janie and I drove to New York City and spent our first night of marriage in the World Trade Center. That evening we dinned in a revolving restaurant that once topped the WTC and that looked out over the city.
A genuine highlight from our past 18 years was living in Alaska in this 20x24 foot cabin, learning how to photograph northern lights
Two days after our marriage, we departed New York driving a Ford Ranger, towing with us a utility trailer that had been converted from an old tent trailer. Today, we’re duplicating that drive across country and doing so at precisely the same time of year. However, rather than driving an old Ford Ranger, we’re driving a Dodge ¾ ton pickup and now towing an Airstream Travel Trailer. Certainly, our lives as Airstreamers has been one of the highlights of our marriage. But there are other high points, and they share much in common with our travels of May 1991–and those slated to unfold over the course of the next few months.
HEADING TO ALASKA
Our upcoming destinations are virtually the same as they were 18 years ago. We’re heading to Montana where we’ll regroup for almost two months. Then, and just like the year we were first married, we’re heading to Alaska.
Back then I had a contract to teach in a summer school program at a remote Gwich’in Indian village known as Arctic Village. The superintendent, an old friend, was trying to bring in people with different backgrounds. She wanted people from these varying occupations to acquaint students isolated by hundreds of miles of wilderness with those backgrounds. She wanted them to know that their were other career alternatives to the subsistence one of hunting and fishing.
My expertise was in photojournalism, and for three more summers, Janie and I worked in several different Gwich’in Indian villages, to include Fort Yukon, Beaver, Rampart, Venetie and Arctic Village. At the end of our first summer we created a multimedia slide presentation, later made into a video and used by the Alaska Department of Education to acquaint prospective teachers with life in remote villages.
Originally, we’d planned to stay but one summer, but we became so enamored with their subsistence culture of caribou and fish, we continued to return, even doing so one winter. As well, we took up their cause to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, “birth place of the Porcupine Caribou herd,” writing stories for many major publications.
HEADING TO MONTANA
Now, in the year 2009, we’re returning to fulfill assignments with various travel magazines about Alaska. One of those stories will concern the World Eskimo/Indian Olympics. First, of course, we have to get back to Montana, and that’s what we’ll be doing these next few days.
Tomorrow, we should be in Toledo, Ohio, and from there we’re heading north to Mackinaw City, where we’ll pick up Highway 2, which will almost take us to our doorstep. And as we travel, we’ll continue to reflect, sad that the immense tragedy of 9/11 has impacted so many. Yes, we say, the devastation affected us in a retrospective sort of way, but the real tragedy, of course, is that it changed our nation.
On the flip side, we celebrate what we can, believing our marriage has been proper and has been blessed. We hope during that time we’ve been able to help family and friends, and that by using the tools of our trade have in some small way enlightened others.
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A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR YEARS AS BLOGGERS:
*Kayaking to the wreck of the Franciso Morazan
4th ed. Autographed by the Authors
Hiking Shenandoah National Park
Hiking Shenandoah National Park is the 4th edition of a favorite guide book, created by Bert & Janie, a professional husband-wife journalism team. Lots of updates including more waterfall trails, updated descriptions of confusing trail junctions, and new color photographs. New text describes more of the park’s compelling natural history. Often the descriptions are personal as the Gildarts have hiked virtually every single park trail, sometimes repeatedly.
Big Sky Country is beautiful
Montana Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Treasure State
Montana Icons is a book for lovers of the western vista. Features photographs of fifty famous landmarks from what many call the “Last Best Place.” The book will make you feel homesick for Montana even if you already live here. Bert Gildart’s varied careers in Montana (Bus driver on an Indian reservation, a teacher, backcountry ranger, as well as a newspaper reporter, and photographer) have given him a special view of Montana, which he shares in this book. Share the view; click here.
$16.95 + Autographed Copy
What makes Glacier, Glacier?
Glacier Icons: 50 Classic Views of the Crown of the Continent
Glacier Icons: What makes Glacier Park so special? In this book you can discover the story behind fifty of this park’s most amazing features. With this entertaining collection of photos, anecdotes and little known facts, Bert Gildart will be your backcountry guide. A former Glacier backcountry ranger turned writer/photographer, his hundreds of stories and images have appeared in literally dozens of periodicals including Time/Life, Smithsonian, and Field & Stream. Take a look at Glacier Icons
$16.95 + Autographed Copy
