A Winter Alaskan’s First Summer

By Alex Stein I pull over to take yet another picture on the Seward Highway. “Unspeakably beautiful,” a man in a Grateful Dead t-shirt says. I nod. How can you argue with that? We talk for a long time about Alaska. Then we both stare out over the water at the snow-dotted peaks. Another car pulls in next to us and a woman gets out. She takes a few photos, says it was prettier the week before, and speeds off. I have a confession to make. On my first trip to Alaska, I drove a rented Toyota Tercel up the…