American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 294 Juneau, the Capital, and Ketchikan (Highly Recommended Reading!)

Juneau International Airport.

When Lin Yu-an's brightly colored Turbo Beaver landed smoothly among a group of Gulfstream and Bombardier business jets, it immediately attracted the attention of everyone on the tarmac.

Under the envious gazes of the FBO ground staff, Lin Yu'an skillfully parked the aircraft in the reserved parking position.

A black Cadillac Escalade SUV that had been reserved was already quietly waiting next to the helipad.

Holding their sleeping child, they got into the car and soon arrived at Juneau’s most famous seafood restaurant – Tracy’s King Crab Shack.

The restaurant was located right next to the harbor, exuding a rugged fisherman's atmosphere. They chose a table with a view of the harbor and snow-capped mountains.

Lin Yu'an ordered a ten-pound, fresh king crab that had just been pulled from the cold seawater.

After a cheerful local girl in a waterproof apron confirmed the order, a steaming metal bucket was soon placed generously in the center of their table with a thud.

There are no exquisite porcelain plates, no fancy plating, only the most primitive way of presentation.

The bucket was filled with huge, bright red king crab legs that had just been cooked. Next to the crab legs were several small white ceramic bowls, filled with warm, melted butter that smelled rich and creamy, and a few lemon wedges.

Apart from that, there is nothing else.

This is Tracy's King Crab Shack's most famous brine-boiled dish.

"Please enjoy your meal!" the waiter said with a smile, handing each of them a pair of scissors specifically for cutting open crab shells.

For the first time, Arya so extravagantly picked up a whole, enormous crab leg, and with a snip of her scissors, cut open the hard shell, revealing the snow-white, plump crab meat inside, as white as ivory.

With just a gentle pull, a whole piece of perfect crab meat slides out of the shell, still steaming.

She dipped the piece of crab meat lightly into the warm, melted butter, and then eagerly put it into her mouth.

The next second, her eyes widened suddenly.

An indescribable, intense sweetness exploded on her taste buds in an instant!

The crab meat was firm yet elastic, and the rich, creamy aroma of the butter perfectly complemented the natural sweetness of the crab meat without overpowering it.

“My God…” she exclaimed indistinctly, “This…this is a completely different species from the king crab I’ve had in Dallas before!”

Lin Yu'an smiled and began to prepare the crab meat for the two little ones who were also drooling with desire.

He picked out a small piece of crab meat from the plumpest center of the crab leg, and after confirming that there were no tiny hard shells, he carefully placed it on the lips of the two babies.

The two little ones' tongues immediately reacted as if they had discovered a new continent, swirling the magical threads with a slightly salty-sweet flavor into their mouths.

Their eyes lit up at the same time, and then they cried out "Ya ya" and waved their little hands, wanting more.

The two little ones were also tasting the sweet flavor of the ocean for the first time.

The son ate with gusto, while the daughter ate with her eyes half-closed, their happy expressions almost melting Arya and Emily's hearts.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Emily watched this scene with a happy smile on her face. As she savored the unparalleled deliciousness, she asked curiously, "Darling, how much would such a fresh king crab cost in China?"

This question made Lin Yu'an pause for a moment to think.

He recalled slowly, saying, "First of all, giant Alaskan king crabs weighing over ten pounds, fresh and alive, are extremely rare in the Chinese market."

"Most restaurants serve cooked-frozen or raw-frozen king crab. A high-quality five- or six-pound king crab can easily cost more than five thousand or even ten thousand yuan in a high-end restaurant in Shanghai."

He glanced at the huge crab shell on the table. "And the one in front of us weighs ten pounds, and it's a live crab that was just pulled from the sea."

"If it could be instantly transported to a restaurant on the Bund in Shanghai, its price tag would likely be an absurd figure for most people, perhaps 20,000 or even 30,000 RMB."

"Thirty thousand RMB, more than four thousand US dollars, for a single crab?" Arya was speechless with astonishment at the figure.

“Yes.” Lin Yu’an nodded. “This is the privilege of the place of origin, and the value of the supply chain. Now, sitting here, we can enjoy the world’s freshest king crab for just over a thousand dollars.”

"And once this crab has gone through layers of transportation, tariffs, and markups by middlemen, it will reach Shanghai, thousands of miles away, and its price will increase four to five times, becoming a symbol that only a few people can afford."

These words gave Arya and Emily a deeper understanding of the value of the lunch in front of them.

Looking at the snow-white crab meat on the plate, they felt it seemed to have become even more precious and delicious.

After lunch, Lin Yu'an glanced at the total amount on the bill when he went to pay.

Tracy's King Crab House
Waitress: Chloe

Table number: Terrace 12

Guests: 5 (including 2 infants)
Consumption items:
Whole king crab (market price): $750
(Weight: 10.2 lbs $73.5)
Crab soup (bowl) x3: $54
World-famous crab cakes x2: $56
Garlic bread (basket) x1: $12
1 serving of fries: $8
Beverages:
Alaskan Amber Ale x2: $18
Chardonnay (Restaurant Special) x2: $24
Sugar-free iced tea x1: $4.5
Organic apple juice x2: $10
Subtotal: $936.5
Sales tax (5%): $46.83
Total payable: $983.33
Lin Yu'an looked at the items on the bill, especially the line for whole king crab - $750. A lunch without tip already cost almost a thousand dollars.

But compared to the price of Shanghai currency, it's incredibly cheap and a great deal.

Lin Yu'an glanced at the total number and then casually handed his black American Express Centurion card to the cashier.

When the cashier handed him back the card reader and bill folder to sign, he casually wrote down a rounded number in the tip section: "$300".

Then, he signed the final amount in the TOTAL column: "$1283.33".

Tips alone exceed 30%, which is almost equivalent to a week's food expenses for an average family.

He left the signed merchant stub in his bill holder, smiled and nodded at the cashier, and then prepared to leave with his family.

However, the young waitress named Chloe, who was in charge of their table, froze on the spot when she received the bill and saw the number on it.

A $300 tip!
This was the biggest tip she had received in the year she had worked here! It was almost equivalent to her salary for three or four days of hard work!

She watched the Lin family's departing figures, hesitated for a moment, and then quickly caught up with them.

"Sir! Please wait a moment!"

Lin Yu'an turned around and looked at her with some confusion.

Chloe ran up to him, her cheeks slightly flushed with excitement and a touch of nervousness.

She stammered, "Sir, I...I just wanted to...want to thank you in person! You...you are the most generous guest I have ever met! Really, thank you so much!"

Lin Yu'an looked at the simple and honest Alaskan girl in front of him and smiled: "Your service was excellent, giving us a perfect lunch experience. You deserve it."

"Wow!" Chloe exclaimed sincerely, then, as if remembering something, she said to them, "Please wait a moment!"

She ran quickly to the souvenir shelf behind the recycling counter, carefully selected a few items, and then ran back.

She winked playfully and handed the small gifts in her hand to Arya and Emily, and even bent down to present them to the two babies who were looking at her curiously.

Those were restaurant souvenirs, a fridge magnet carved into the shape of a king crab, and several beautifully crafted vintage postcards depicting scenes from Ketchikan's golden age of fishing port.

"This is just a small token of our appreciation from our store." Chloe looked at Lin Yu'an's family, her eyes filled with sincere blessings.

"I wish you and your family a safe and enjoyable trip in Alaska! And I wish you happiness and fulfillment every day in the future, just like this lunch today!"

“Thank you, Chloe.” Emily smiled and accepted the beautiful postcard.

"We received your blessing." Lin Yu'an nodded to her.

After saying that, he led his family out of the legendary King Crab House.

After lunch, they did not rush on their way.

Lin Yu'an took them to visit the famous Mendenhall Glacier. The huge blue glacier stretched from the valley to the lake, allowing them to once again appreciate the wonders of nature.

Arya and Emily took turns holding the baby and took their first ever photo with the massive glacier in front of the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center.

In the photo, the two little ones are wearing thick down jackets and cute knitted hats, pointing curiously at the huge blue ice crystal in the distance, their faces beaming with innocent smiles.

At 3 p.m., when they returned to the airport, refueled the plane, and took to the skies again, everyone was filled with satisfaction and anticipation for the next leg of their journey.

The plane continued flying south along the most rugged and magnificent inner bay route in North America. Below lay countless islands covered in primeval forests and deep, azure bays reminiscent of Norwegian fjords.

“It’s so beautiful…” Arya murmured, her face almost pressed against the porthole. “I feel like we’re flying over Middle-earth from Lord of the Rings.” Emily was also completely captivated by the magnificent scene before her, her camera shutter clicking almost nonstop.

The two little ones had already drifted off to sleep during the smooth flight of the plane.

Just then, Lin Yu'an, who had been focused on driving, narrowed his eyes slightly. His superhuman eyesight caught an unusual disturbance on the distant sea.

“Look,” he reminded his wives through the intercom system, while smoothly lowering the flight altitude slightly and moving towards that direction, “we seem to have… encountered something big.”

Arya and Emily immediately looked in the direction he was pointing.

Below, on the calm, velvety blue sea, a huge black shadow was slowly rising.

Then, "Pfft—!!!"

A deep yet incredibly loud sound pierced through the roar of the plane's engines and reached their ears clearly.

With that sound, a huge white column of water shot into the sky from the sea! Under the sunlight, it formed a brief, dazzling rainbow!

“A humpback whale! It’s a humpback whale!” Emily was the first to recognize it, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

The giant sea monster seemed completely oblivious to the iron bird circling overhead. It simply leisurely displayed its back, covered in barnacles like a small mountain, on the sea surface.

Then, it did something that everyone on board would never forget.

Its body slowly sank downwards. Then, its iconic tail fin, like a piece of black and white art, slowly rose out of the water with an extremely elegant and powerful posture.

The sunlight outlined the tail fin into a golden silhouette. Countless glistening water droplets slid off the edge of the tail fin, scattering like diamonds into the azure sea.

It seemed as if it were paying a silent and solemn salute to the sky and to this magnificent world!

Then, it silently sank back into that deep blue, leaving only a huge, slowly spreading ripple on the surface of the sea.

The whole process took only a few dozen seconds.

But inside the cabin, a long, stunned silence fell.

Arya and Emily stared blankly at the now calm sea below, feeling as if their souls had been completely cleansed by what they had just witnessed.

That is life itself, the purest, most primal, and most breathtaking beauty.

Lin Yu'an didn't speak. He simply piloted the plane and circled over that sea area once more, as if paying his respects to the ocean giant he had just met.

Then, he regained altitude and continued flying south along the flight path.

“Darling…” After a long while, Arya finally found her voice, looking at Lin Yu’an’s profile with eyes full of love and adoration, “Thank you.”

"no need thank me?"

"Thank you for showing us all this. Without you, I might have only ever seen these kinds of scenes on TV my whole life."

Emily nodded and said sincerely, "This is true luxury."

Lin Yu'an smiled and then focused on piloting the plane.

As dusk fell and the sun began to set, painting the sky and sea in a brilliant orange hue, they arrived at the end of their first day's journey: Ketchikan, a beautiful town at the southernmost tip of Alaska.

This is the salmon capital of the world.

Lin Yu'an did not choose to land at a land airport, but instead piloted the plane to complete an extremely smooth water landing on the mirror-like calm bay.

The aircraft's amphibious floats cut through the water, which was tinged gold by the setting sun, leaving behind two elegant white sprays.

The turbocharger engine was reduced to its minimum power, and the plane, like a swan returning to its nest, silently and slowly glided to a group of colorful buildings built on the water, full of historical atmosphere.

That's the most famous landmark in Ketchikan – Creek Street.

The entire street, or rather the entire community, has no land whatsoever. It is entirely constructed of creaking wooden boardwalks that wind their way along Kechikan Creek.

The houses on both sides are stilted buildings supported directly on the rushing stream by thick wooden piles.

At the far end of the street, in the quietest corner, stood the largest and most imposing three-story building, the renowned River Bend Hotel, which they had booked long ago.

The hotel boasts the only private dock on Creek Street capable of accommodating turbobeaver-class heavy seaplanes.

When Lin Yu-an brought the plane to a smooth stop beside the pier, no staff came to greet him.

He skillfully shut off the engine, then opened the hatch, picked up a pre-prepared cable, nimbly jumped onto the buoy, and then leaped onto the dock.

He skillfully secured the heavy aircraft to the mooring bollards at the dock, just like tying up a horse.

This is the daily life of a jungle pilot; he always takes care of his own plane.

He returned to the cabin and carefully untied the two sleeping babies, along with their car seats, and handed them to Emily, who was already waiting at the door.

Then, together with Arya, they carried their luggage ashore one by one.

The family walked along the creaking wooden boardwalk, Arya and Emily curiously observing this legendary place.

Looking at the colorful houses on both sides and feeling the sound of the stream flowing beneath her feet, Aria said, "This place... is so special. Most of the houses are red, green, and blue wooden houses, like a town from a fairy tale."

Lin Yu'an explained with a smile, "Of course it's special, especially that green wooden house, which was the most famous brothel in all of Alaska a hundred years ago."

"Behind every house here lies a legendary story of gold prospectors, fishermen, and smugglers."

"It is said that during the Prohibition era, there was even a secret door here, which could be used to smuggle whiskey directly from the ship into the bar through the floor."

He pointed to the largest building in front of him, "The River Bend Hotel where we are staying is said to have been the most luxurious and mysterious club in the area."

These words made them even more curious about the secrets of the hotel they were about to stay in.

Their King Suite was the most luxurious room in the entire hotel. It occupied the entire western corner of the third floor and boasted a huge, wraparound terrace that extended over the stream.

The room's interior lacks opulent decorations, instead exuding a luxurious atmosphere imbued with natural beauty and historical depth.

The floor is covered with thick, hand-woven Navajo-style carpets, and the walls are adorned with artwork depicting Indigenous mythology and enormous elk antler decorations.

The most striking feature is the fireplace, carved from a single massive block of granite, with crackling flames burning inside, illuminating the entire room warmly and brightly.

The enormous bed, made of cedar wood and capable of sleeping four people, faces a floor-to-ceiling window that covers an entire wall.

Lying in bed, you can see the stream flowing into the sea outside the window, and the fishing boats returning home in the distance.

That evening, instead of going to the restaurant, they chose to have dinner on the terrace of their room.

The hotel's chef prepared a "salmon feast" for them.

Five top-quality wild salmon species from different waters, each with its own distinct flavor—King salmon, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, pink salmon, and chum salmon—were prepared into more than a dozen exquisite dishes using methods that best showcase their natural taste.

From melt-in-your-mouth smoked king salmon fillets bursting with rich, oily aroma, to firm, pan-seared sockeye salmon fillets paired with sweet and sour cranberry sauce.

From the silver salmon fillets grilled on cedar planks to release their unique woody aroma, to the pink salmon head soup simmered in the simplest broth to create an exquisitely delicious soup.

Each dish is a delicate baptism for the taste buds.

Arya and Emily savored the unparalleled delicious food while enjoying the slightly salty sea breeze that carried a hint of coolness in the evening.

Watching the fishing boats returning home in the distance, leaving long golden trails on the sea, and seeing flocks of seagulls and bald eagles circling in the sunset.

It is a kind of tranquility and relaxation that is far removed from all the noise and hustle and bustle of the world.

The two little ones were in great spirits, and they seemed to have fallen in love with this place full of new experiences.

They crawled around tirelessly on the soft, large bed in the hotel, covered with the finest Egyptian cotton sheets, their joyful laughter injecting the purest vitality into this slightly tiring family trip.

Finally, as night fell and the stars filled the sky, the family fell into a deep sleep, listening to the calls of waterbirds returning to their nests and lulled by the sound of the waves.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

(The content in this chapter is all based on real events. If you have the chance, you can go to that restaurant and try the king crab.)
(End of this chapter)