Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native’s Life Along the River by Sidney Huntington and How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend by the Monks of New Skete.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
Iceland.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
We had a black wolf that hung out at Mendenhall Glacier for a number of years and got a chance to ski with it, which was really amazing.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Walk the dog. Feed the dog.
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
SEADOGS (Southeast Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search).
Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native’s Life Along the River by Sidney Huntington and How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend by the Monks of New Skete.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
Iceland.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
We had a black wolf that hung out at Mendenhall Glacier for a number of years and got a chance to ski with it, which was really amazing.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Walk the dog. Feed the dog.
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
SEADOGS (Southeast Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search).
Off the Cuff
n a weekly basis, the co-founders of Alaskan Brewing Company tromp into the muskeg on Douglas Island with their dog, Tango, to hone the retriever’s trailing skills. A SEADOGS volunteer hides in the brush, and Tango sniffs them out. The exercise keeps Geoff and Marcy Larson and their pooch ready for when Alaska State Troopers call for help to locate a missing person.
“It’s sometimes a very traumatic period for a small community,” Geoff says, “but it’s amazing to see how small communities pull together.”
The Larsons have been together since 1979. He was a chemical engineer and she was a photojournalist, although Marcy switched to bookkeeping so she could earn a steady paycheck. They married in 1985, and a year later they used a Prohibition-era recipe to create Alaskan Amber. They now distribute beers in more than twenty other states, as far east as Ohio. By sales volume, it’s the 19th largest craft brewery in the country.
Yet the Larsons still have time to devote to Tango—and to the puppy they adopted last summer, now in training as their newest search dog.
Marcy Larson: What free time? [Geoff laughs] The time that we do have [outside of work] we dedicate to search and rescue.
Geoff Larson: I’d also say people. When we have free time, we probably search out people; we go and enjoy others’ company.
AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?
Marcy: We’re always working on teamwork because that is so crucial in so many things.
AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Marcy: I’ve jumped out of an airplane…
Geoff: A perfectly good airplane!
Marcy: …a hundred times. So how ‘bout that?
AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Geoff: My kitchen. Why? We have so much fresh seafood here. We enjoy crabbing.
Marcy: And he’s a great chef, I will say.
AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?
Marcy: Hobo Jim. Really miss that guy. He was awesome.
AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Marcy: We were able to invite all of our nieces and nephews [for their birthdays] to come up and experience Alaska with an incredible trip. It’s their choice: a rafting trip, a mountain trip, whatever. We just get to go along.
AB: Have you ever had a supernatural experience?
Geoff: I get a number of those by being out in the wild. Sitting there on a mountain side and having a cloud just appear in front of me and evolve. It’s like putting on a show just for me. It’s magical.
Marcy: I’ve been hit by lightning [she laughs]. I didn’t get hurt. I mean, I got thrown and knocked out, but I got up and I was fine. When I was twelve. In Florida.
AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute?
Geoff: It’s focus. I focus, and that also can be interpreted as stubborn. That is maybe a strength, to be able to sit there and focus on something, but sometimes you don’t see the forest because you’re looking at the tree. Would you say that’s right?
Marcy: Yeah, probably. And my best attribute would probably be organization, trying to keep this guy in order and picked-up after… My worst is probably over-estimating what I can do, getting ahead of myself and telling people I’m gonna do too many things.
AB: Other than your current career, if you were a kid today, what would your dream job be?
Geoff: Raising dogs. The care of an animal is extraordinarily important, and people don’t really understand the importance of a lot of that nurturing, development of puppies.
AB: What is your favorite way to exercise?
Marcy: Chasing after our dog [both laugh].
