No, this is not Alaska. Gina and I visited Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Michigan during our recent visit home. Here, I'm standing at the top of the dunes, about 350 feet above Lake Michigan.

The blog is back to life. My apologies for being MIA for weeks. There are a number of reasons, but I’m back up and running now.

One of the reasons I’ve been missing posts is because Gina and I took a weeklong vacation back to Michigan, where both of us spent most of our lives until moving to Alaska in 2000.

There is something comforting about returning to your roots. Even after being away from the state for nearly a decade -- and away from our hometowns much longer -- is nice to see that some things haven’t changed much. Of course, you also notice some major changes, and that can be jarring to the system.

It was also a chance to explore. One side trip we took while in Michigan was to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on the northwest tip of the Lower Peninsula. It’s hard to believe we lived basically 30 years in Michigan and had never been to the stunning sand dunes that were only three hours or so from our homes.

Sometimes, we don’t take the time to enjoy the things that are in our backyard.

That’s how it seems when tourism season starts here in Alaska. Visitors come up from the Lower 48 and from other nations and set out on some great Alaska adventures. They’ll end up doing some things that I’ve never done here in the state. That seems kind of wrong. If anyone should experience and enjoy Alaska, it should be the people who live here year-round. But work, obligations and vacations elsewhere take our time away.

So I’m resolving to do something or go somewhere new this summer. I’m not sure where that’s going to be right now, but I don’t want a "Sleeping Bear Dunes experience" another 10 years from now here in Alaska. So maybe it’s a trip to Kodiak (yes, nine years and it hasn’t happened) or above the Arctic Circle or to Yakutat.

I don’t know what, but I’m adding something to my Alaska "bucket list."

-- Steve