We’ve all been there: you return from a fantastic trip and struggle to reincorporate yourself back into the daily grind. Unfortunately, I seem to be struggling a bit more than usual on my reintroduction to society!
I was driving to work this morning and found myself incredibly frustrated with the traffic….and the noise….and the flashing lights at the school zone. Seriously?! Who hates on a school zone?! Then, I went to CrossFit for the first time in 12 days and totally got annihilated with the workout. I’m pretty sure my legs atrophied from sitting in the boat last week because it has been awhile since I’ve suffered that much during a WOD.
View of the tundra from our bush plane while flying into the park
Is this whining? Maybe, but not intentionally. It’s just weird to me that I’m experiencing such a “come down” from a mere week-long adventure. I remember coming back to the States after my year of cycling and South American adventure, and I really struggled. I think it took me a good 4-6 weeks before I felt comfortable and reinstated in my previous life. Granted, I was gone for 13 months; to me, this is a justifiable time period. Ten days in Alaska is not!
In all honesty, I think I quickly adapted to the dead silence of such a deserted piece of wilderness like Gates of the Arctic. We all noted there was even less animal chatter than expected and there were plenty of times when the air was deafeningly quiet. I suspect that most animals (aside from those silly grizzlies!) don’t even waste there time with such a remote part of the country because it’s too cold and there is nothing to eat. In short, they are far smarter than us!
Will and I have also noticed that we have come back to darkness which is utterly bizarre. When did the sun start setting so early?! Again, we were only gone for a week so maybe we’re crazy. However, after sleeping outdoors in a world that never truly gets dark, our current 8pm sunset seems plain silly. I could not fall asleep on Monday night, finally drifting away after midnight. I jumped awake at 4am and could never go back to sleep. Will found me at 6:45am yesterday morning, watching MTV’s The Challenge while drinking my third cup of coffee. He asked when I woke up, and I felt like responding that I had never truly gone to sleep!
PS Not to worry– Alaska recap is coming! I need to get photos sorted, and more importantly, I want Will to get HIS photos sorted! I think the stories will start coming next week!
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Do you ever experience major vacation “come down” mode?