Scrolling through Facebook one evening in early May 2021 led me to a post about finding a host family for a Japanese exchange student. His self-description read as if he was one of our kids — except he was living his life in Japan. A first-born who loves STEAM and has been skiing since he was 3 years old. However, I wasn't completely floored until the second paragraph when he described living in a two-parent physician household hoping to be a physician one day to care for vulnerable populations. We submitted our application within 48 hours of reading the post, and within one week, we received the approval email from our new exchange student coordinator. Positive experiences CAN happen on a whim when scrolling through social media!

Before officially meeting Yusei upon his arrival that August, we already included him as a member of our family. As our family planned trips for the year, we chose some favorite locations and new ones we thought Yusei would like as he explored the United States. As a last vacation for our new family of five, we thought it would be great to fly back to Japan with him at the end of the year. We could meet his parents and brothers and have authentic recommendations for vacationing in Japan. I closed out two weeks in my schedule without clinics, and Jason made sure not to schedule any shifts during that timeframe. Surely, the most challenging component was handled; Japan, here we come! But as the seasons passed, we realized that Japan was not in the stars this year. There were still too many COVID-19 restrictions that would have prevented us from fully experiencing Japan. With two consecutive weeks already blocked off for vacation, we couldn't let them go to waste. What was another place on our bucket list that we could take Yusei with us to enjoy? I dunno, Alaska? "Juneau," that's a great idea! After a couple more dad jokes from us parents and eye-rolls from our kids, we decided to embark on a journey to our 49th state!

With a ski trip here, a ski trip there, a Universal Studios vacation, a drive to the heart of Missouri and a quick flight to the Big Apple, among others, we helped Yusei visit 13 states during his 11 months with us. But the trip to Alaska would be the longest with exploration by land and by sea, thanks to our personal travel agent, Jason. Traveling this much is not required to be host parents and is not expected by students. It just so happened that we had significant flexibility this year. As we reached the end of his senior year, it dawned on us that we would be in Alaska during the summer solstice. Would we finally experience 24 hours of daylight as we had always read about? Again, destiny would have us at the right place at the right time.

Packing for a trip to Alaska in June was no easy feat. Temperatures ranged from 50 degrees to 70s. Windy, yet calm. Icy, yet dry. Sunny, yet cloudy. But at least no rain! The trick was to pack like our ski trips out West — making good use of layers. Once the majority of Yusei's personal items were shipped back to Japan and we packed just what we needed for two weeks, our family was ready to hear the announcement "All aboard." Upon our arrival, the sun was blazing like noon, although it was evening, and our bodies thought it was time to sleep. We still had many hours of daylight before crashing into bed from the long day of travel. Thank goodness for a sleep mask to block out the light. I never leave home without it.

The next day we opted to explore Anchorage by bicycle after being docile the day before. Within 24 hours of our arrival, we caught sight of our first two moose while on our "leisure" 20-mile bike ride in Anchorage. These "city moose," as I nicknamed them, didn't even flinch as a flock of humans observed and took pictures of them. Thank goodness, because moose can trample someone to death if they feel threatened. Running is your best chance at survival. I was certain we would soon see more if it was this easy to spot two moose. Many more moose were seen up close and from afar, in the woods or on the road, sometimes with calves. Which begs the question, at what point does one no longer get excited to see moose on the side of the road? After a week? Months? Never? At the end of two weeks, I was still mesmerized. Alaska is a grand place for the great outdoors, but you don't have to camp in tents or drive an RV to experience it unless you want to. In the first week, we covered the cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks, hiked in Denali National Park, met Alaskan sled dogs on vacation from their winter employment, white water rafted class two through four rapids and ATV off-roaded in the mountains at night. Don't worry; Alaska is the land of the midnight sun this time of the year, so a 16-hour itinerary was accomplished with an afternoon boost of caffeine. But afternoon caffeine was insufficient to keep my eyelids peeled to catch a midnight sunset.

After a week of travel by car, we felt ready for a change of pace. We exchanged our wheels to set sail on a cruise. This gave us the benefit of efficiently reaching more cities and some functional exercise. We departed from Seward to arrive in Juneau 40 hours later, with a stop along the way to see the mighty Hubbard Glacier. Luckily, we were not on the cruise ship that accidentally ran into the Hubbard Glacier that day and had to cut their cruise short due to ship damage! With the sea gods on our side, we reached Juneau, a city that can only be reached by sea or air. Our tour guides gave us the challenge of paddling a canoe for 2 miles to reach another glacier, the Mendenhall Glacier. Upon arrival, we learned that we could get even better views of the glacier … if we hiked. Trekking with walking sticks in hand, windbreakers, waterproof pants and rainboots brought us a sense of true adventure. Our safety was in our guides to keep us off any melting areas and loose rocks. Rated as a strenuous tour, this would be reserved for fit individuals. I have an empty bottle of Ibuprofen and a stronger core to support the rating. After our mile hike to the glacier, we hiked back to the canoe to prepare for 2 miles of paddling back to shore. This time, we had the wind propelling us forward and a guide sharing the heartwarming story about the friendship between a local labrador retriever and a wolf. Alaskan guides are great storytellers, so before we knew it, we were back at home, taking off our waterproof outfits and sweating again on land in the Alaskan sun. Gotta love the benefits of layers.

Returning to the cruise ship famished after that family workout, we began dinner with our family ritual of escargot as an appetizer (thanks to a family trip to Paris some years ago, our kids are obsessed with escargot). We quickly dozed off with sleep masks in place to energize for the next active day. The next stops on the cruise included the quaint town of Skagway with a big city festival, Icy Straight Point with a whale watching tour and 60 mph zip-lining park, and eventually, Ketchikan, where we were captivated by the storytelling captain onboard the crab fishing boat known as the Aleutian Ballad. This journey provided insight into commercial fishermen's personal and professional lives, allowing us to handle Alaskan king crabs, box crabs and shrimp. The tour also provided the honor of visiting the Native American reservation of Annette Island, home to the only tribe in the country with water ownership and home to what felt like hundreds of bald eagles! We have seen eagles before and even single eagles in their natural habitat, but never hundreds of them flying around freely as they do on this reservation. We thank the local Metlatka tribe for allowing us into their protected waters for this magnificent experience and the Aleutian Ballad crew for helping us appreciate the effort, skill and risk it takes to get seafood from the sea and to our homes. #attitudeofgratitude

Aside from the 13 states in 15 trips over 11 months that Yusei visited (yes, we pulled our kids from school to make that happen), we made a final pit stop in Vancouver to check off one more city and country before flying back to Japan. To say we made the most of the year regarding travel would be an understatement. Traveling home was bittersweet. We were still elated about the two weeks of memories we created to top off a great exchange year, yet saddened that our son was returning to his natural parents in Tokyo. Our hearts were full yet broken at the same time. How was that possible? We never expected having an exchange student for a year would significantly impact our household and emotions.

No sooner had we arrived home from our trip than the kids were asking about our NEXT trip to Alaska! I guess the great outdoors and being intermittently "off the grid" was just what our family enjoyed. Every family is different when defining the "best" vacation. But this year confirmed that we like to be active outdoors and physically work hard for our sightseeing experiences. Ask Jason how he and Yusei traveled to New York City for 24 hours with just a backpack each. Exploring the country and sharing it with someone from another country has been fulfilling.

Now, almost a year after Yusei's arrival, I was scrolling through Facebook (here we go again), and this time saw a post that our exchange student coordinator was looking for a family specifically in Brighton Area Schools district to host an Italian student for a year. He loves F1 racing and American cars and wants to be an Italian Air Force pilot. It sounds like he's a driven adrenaline junkie like Jason and might enjoy jet ski racing if given the opportunity. Are any pilots in the neighborhood willing to take him for a spin?

For information on being a host family to an exchange student or how we build our travel itineraries, feel free to contact us. Ixsy Ramirez is married to Jason Lester, and they have two children. They have lived in Hidden Lake since 2011. When not at work caring for her pediatric pulmonary patients at Mott Hospital, Brighton, Ypsilanti or Flint, she is preparing to travel with her family, exercise or enjoy the natural beauty that Hidden Lake offers. Of note, she still gets excited to see the animals of Hidden Lake no matter how many years she has lived here.