A few years ago, I set the goal of visiting all 50 states in the United States. The two northwestern states of Washington and Alaska were the last ones remaining on the list.

Arriving at international airports with a Pakistani passport is the least favourite part of my travel, but the excitement of seeing the pristine beauty of the Pacific Northwest overrode any anxiety.

Once we landed in Seattle, I rented a mid-size sedan and drove to our host’s home. The house was located in East Lake District, just one block from Union Lake.

This was my first experience as a guest at an Airbnb. The neighbourhood, located on the steep hills that lead to the lake, was clean and well maintained.

The apartment had china and silverware, a small refrigerator, a Keurig machine with a wide selection of coffee flavours and cookies. The walls had artwork; some glass decoration pieces were on stands.

I was very impressed with the homey environment, finding it more comfortable and interesting than an average hotel room.

After a rest, I drove to the University of Washington campus. One of the purposes of my trip to Seattle was to attend an interview for a fellowship position at the university.

As I entered, I drove under a banner saying, “Question the Answer.” This free spirit of questioning of any theory, dogma or notion is, I believe, what differentiates American institutions from those in Pakistan.

The next day we set off to visit the famous Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, 60 miles north of the city. We left early to avoid traffic and made our first stop at a coffee shop.

Seattle is home to several brands such as Starbucks and Tully’s. During my stay, we made stops at several independent coffee shops to have freshly roasted brews.

The Tulip fields were more beautiful than expected. It was like a scene out of a movie with enormous fields of tulips of different colours extending to hills far in the background.

Out in the fresh air with the sun dancing in and out of the clouds, I felt one with nature. I touched, smelled and felt the flowers; it was an intoxicating experience.

Most of the tourists I met were professionals from India and other parts of Asia. I imagine them as future builders of the world, now employed at Amazon, Microsoft, Expedia, Google, Boeing, Nike and other multinational companies.

As I left, I ordered some tulip bulbs for the front yard of my house; they arrived by mail a few weeks later.

The Space Needle is an iconic structure that defines the skyline of Seattle. The ticket to the observation deck was overpriced and going up and down in the glass elevator was nerve racking, to say the least.

The panoramic view from the circular platform on the top was interesting. Also, there was a touchscreen map where tourists could pin their place of origin on a map. I marked Lahore there.

The next stop was a glass museum that displayed the work of the internationally known artist, David Chihuly. He has created exceptionally beautiful glass sculptures in every shape, colour, style and form you can imagine.

Walking through the different galleries is breathtaking. He has created a parallel universe made of glass that has jungles, trees, grass, flowers, animals, birds and other creatures. It looked vividly real, leaving a delightful and permanent impression on my mind.

I woke up early in the morning (there is a three hours’ time difference from the east coast) and went for a run. On different days I ran around the Union Lake, Green Lake and several neighbourhoods in the city.

Afterwards, I made coffee and sat in the sun to read before going out for the day. Usually, the landlords would come out and we would have hour-long chats. At times, a couple of neighbours came and also sat with us.

The neighbourhood definitely had the feeling of a community. Our friends said that ultra-rich Seattle natives such as Paul Allen and Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and other entrepreneurs are investing in several neighbourhoods to improve city living.

We drove to Snoqualmie Falls, which is almost 30 miles east in the Cascade Mountains. We had breakfast at a restaurant located at the edge of the fall with a spectacular view of the water.

The water fell vertically from a height of a couple of hundred feet and made a big splash. Everything on the banks was wet from water and mist.

I decided to go down, following a dirt track, nearer the water. I passed evergreen trees filled with moss and algae. It reminded me of the Shogran hiking track through the woods to Siri Paya.

I hiked on for almost half hour and then found out that the track was closed due to construction. I was disappointed that I could not enjoy the view of the fall from its base.

We went to Pike Place Market for a lunch of good French food with a perfect view of the river. It was one of the best meals I had in Seattle.

Then we wandered around the market, which sold fresh seafood as wells as organic berries, fruits, vegetables, flowers and milk from local farms.

Different vendors were giving out samples of food. I tasted all of them; they were very good!

Washington is among the first states that legalised marijuana for recreational use. You could find stores and vendors all across the market selling weed products such as cookies, munchkins, beauty products and even marijuana-infused chocolates.

We also visited the Seattle Art Museum, which had a fascinating exhibit of Edward Curtis’ photographs of Native Americans.

And I visited the Seattle Public Library just down the street — a dramatic contemporary building with many computers for public use along with its large collection of books.

During the next couple of days, we visited Amazon’s headquarters, which has amazing glass spheres within which are some employee work spaces, and an park-like area covered with soft AstroTurf and surrounded by rare trees and plants.

Parents let their children crawl across the turf and Amazon employees came out to play. At street level, the office building has Amazon Go, a cashier-less store where you shop without paying cash or swiping card.

You must carry an Amazon Go application on your smart phone. You enter the store after scanning the application at a turnstile.

Inside the store, cameras and scanners detect whatever you pick up and automatically bill your Amazon account.

We took bottled protein shakes, fruits and other snacks, and just walked out of the store. It felt weird and uncomfortable to shop without paying anything.

It gave me the feeling that I had stolen the food. It was the first store of its kind in the world: no lines, no hassle shopping.

We decided to visit Mount Rainer, 60 miles south of Seattle. It was a bright and sunny day, and I was able to see the mountain from distance. But the snow-covered peak was invisible because of cloud cover.

Once the black-top road ended, a gravel track began. Then the snow started to fall gently and a few miles up the hill, it became steadily heavier.

We were less than a mile away from the base camp when I saw two deer on the road. I stopped to take a photo and afterwards when I pushed on the gas pedal, the tires started to spin because of the steep elevation and the snow.

I changed the gear from automatic to manual, but the car did not move. I felt helpless and scared. I thought of calling 911, but my phone was not receiving any signal.

Even when I tried to move the car sideways, the steering wheel had no control over the tires. The tires wouldn’t move; even if they did, they would take a route of their own.

There was a few-hundred-feet-deep trench with evergreen trees on one side of the road. On the other, there was a small natural drain, almost one to two feet deep.

I did not want the tires to get near either side of the road. I was not sure that I would be able to get out of the place without the help of a tow truck.

I started to drive the car in reverse gear. Because of the weight of the vehicle, gravity and slope, it started to slide down the road in an unexpectedly smooth manner.

The car had a rearview camera. I do not think there could be a situation where a rearview camera is more helpful.

I started to let the car roll back gently and was navigating through the camera screen and the rearview mirror.

Nevertheless, the car started to slip toward the trench. Now I was only a foot away from the roadside and had no idea what to do.

My legs were shaking and my mouth was dry. It was too risky to move the car but I couldn’t wait there forever.

Slowly, during the next 10 minutes, I was able to get the car back on the middle of the road. It slid backward once again and soon after making a turn, I saw some hope.

On the deep slope side of the road, there was a big tree. Its branches spread over the road. There was very little snow underneath it. I carefully drove the car there.

Once again it was dangerously close to the trench. I was hopeful, but very nervous. Gradually, the tires reached gravel; the car had grip and power again.

I was able to make the car turn and followed the rut tracks for the next few miles. I finally made it out of that snow trap.

The experience at Mount Rainier did not discourage me from driving toward Mount St. Helens. We went a few miles off the main road to explore the untouched beauty around the majestic volcano with its snow-covered peak.

Due to past eruptions, we were able to see lava caves in the valley. I went inside a mile-and-half-long lava tube for a couple of hundred feet.

Then I decided to turn around. I did not have the right equipment and clothes to navigate the lava caves that run for miles. Instead, I decided to move on to see the rest of the Lava Valley in the bright sunlight.

The next day we took off for Fairbanks, Alaska. When our plane landed, I was excited that I had finally visited all 50 states.

Fairbanks is a small town in central Alaska. I had chosen the travel dates carefully. These were the darkest nights of the month, without any moonlight, which would provide the best chance of seeing the Northern Lights.

I had rented an apartment through Airbnb and drove through the small town to find it. The owner was a young Native American who was proud that, for generations, his ancestors had lived in the area. He told me that the sun did not go down till 11pm at this time of year and it did not get dark till midnight.

In Fairbanks, I visited an independent bookstore named Gulliver. Gulliver was only a block from the place where I was staying and it had a good collection of books as well as a cafe. I made me wish there was a better reading culture in Pakistan.

Next, we drove to Denali National Park. I was able to see one moose and a few caribou grazing in the vast wilderness.

We visited a kennel of sled dogs where we were able to pat those Alaskan huskies. The forest guard said that, on average, these dogs travel 3,000 miles each winter before they retire at the age of seven or eight years.

Visiting Hot Spring, where the water temperature was 106 degrees because of sulphur in the water, was an interesting experience. My body was both hot and cold simultaneously in an open hot water spring while the air around me was almost freezing.

I downloaded a couple of phone applications to predict the likelihood of the Aurora Borealis activity in the area. The phenomenon does not happen dependably. For four nights, I went out in the woods and waited for hours to see the Northern Lights but without luck.

It was my last day in Fairbanks. The morning was cold with some ice showers. The weather forecast predicted better weather in the evening.

I was optimistic about seeing the lights but the prediction for seeing them was not certain. After dinner, I fell asleep and woke up around midnight.

I checked the phone for the updated Aurora prediction, which indicated that, in 20 minutes, there would be an 18 per cent chance to see the lights.

I jumped out of bed and drove to the hilltop. While the prediction seemed to be in my favour, I did not see anything in the sky.

Around one in the morning, I saw some milky white streaks over my head. They seemed to extend, like long fingers parallel to each other, stretching from the north western to the south eastern sky.

Within the next few minutes, the display started to swirl around the sky, in a very typical Aurora pattern. Now I could see very light green hues in the swirling waves. It was extended all over the sky and seemed to be moving slowly. This was the Aurora.

After half an hour, the process started again, this time in a different corner. The pale yellow light started to become clearer and then it spread all over the sky.

It did not have any bright colours in it this time. But it was a live light show happening in front of me.

The show was not as spectacular as I had seen in pictures and videos. It seemed to me that the full spectrum of the Aurora was like a coloured painting of Monet.

The next morning, before boarding the plane, I bought some postcards of Aurora Borealis from a store and mailed them to my friends and family with pride.

It was a long flight back to New York, but once I closed my eyes, the memories of the beautiful sights from this trip made my journey easy.

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