MIRAMONTE’S REAL ALASKA REALITY SHOW: AN ALUMNA’S LIFE
LAURA MELOHN EMERSON, CLASS OF 1975

Think it’s cold in Orinda? Wait until you hear about Laura Melohn Emerson’s life in the Alaskan wilderness! This 1975 Miramonte alumna traded city life for the rugged, off-grid reality of the Alaskan bush, where temperatures plummet to minus 33°F and transportation requires a plane or snow machine. From building her own log cabin to foraging for food and witnessing the northern lights, Laura’s journey is one of resilience, self-reliance, and intentional living. Read on to discover how her Miramonte roots and diverse career path led her to a life few can imagine—and the rare chance to live her own “real Alaska reality show.”

Please tell us a little about yourself and your history with Miramonte High School.
LME: My name is Laura Melohn Emerson. I’m a member of the Miramonte High School Class of 1975. My family moved to Sleepy Hollow in 1971. My sisters, Sara and Sue, as well as six nieces and nephews (Hoovers and Melohns), followed at Miramonte.

Can you tell us what you’ve been up to since high school, for those who might not know?
LME: After graduating from Miramonte, I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Duke University, and then two master’s degrees at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. My career path was pretty random: I was an English teacher and adjunct professor, global chemical markets analyst, business writer, compliance officer for small investment banks, and author of a book and magazine column about off-grid life in Alaska. 

In our 50s in 2007, my husband, Bryan Emerson, and I bought a remote lakeside property in an undeveloped forest in Alaska. We visited incrementally during summers and March for five years, as locals and we built all initial infrastructure, including our cabin, a power tower, and docks for our kayak and our plane. We moved from a high-rise and professional life in Houston, Texas, to the Alaskan bush full-time in 2012, when my younger son enlisted in the 82nd Airborne as a parachuting medic. 

Our homestead is north of Anchorage and south of Denali National Park, at 61 degrees latitude. Transportation to and from our home in Alaska is by float or ski plane (it’s a 20 minute flight to the closest road), or by snowmachine (3 hours to the closest road). There are about 70 full-time residents in this part of Alaska, which is the size of five Northeast states. Only one other home is near us. We have no village and no municipal services of any kind: no mail, sewage, or roads.

Our log cabin is built from 106 spruce trees. We have an outhouse. I grow and forage up to 65 plants for food and home remedies. We heat our home and outdoor bath with firewood that my husband and I cut in the winter and haul home by sled. For power, my husband built a 120 foot guy wire tower for a one kilowatt wind turbine. We have several solar panels, a phone antenna that he points to a repeater 40 miles away, and a satellite dish for the internet. Because of limited power, we eschew most electrical appliances. We have no TV, no dryer, no toaster. 

What is your greatest professional and/or personal accomplishment?
LME: I earned a Mayor's Award in Houston, Texas, for my work with the AIDS Foundation in 1989, and earned a teacher's award – 24 awarded out of 10,000 teachers – in the Houston Independent School District in 1989.

Moving to remote, off-the-grid Alaska was a very steep learning curve for me, so becoming a master gardener, master naturalist and permaculturalist, and master herbalist were all very helpful and satisfying. Now, after more than a dozen years in Alaska, I feel far more competent than the city gal I was. It is a simple, self-reliant, intentional life with great clarity about the difference between needs and wants.  

Did you have any favorite Miramonte courses and/or electives? 
LME: Drama was my favorite elective, and my favorite classes were English and Latin. I found Latin and typing to be the most useful courses for later in life. My Latin teacher, Mrs. Bisio, was my favorite teacher at Miramonte. 

Are there any ways you have stayed connected or involved with Miramonte High School since your graduation? 
LME: Both I and my close friends moved away from Orinda and lost touch with each other. Maybe because my husband and I often go from October 1st to March 1st in Alaska without seeing other people and without resupply or mail, I have become less social. However, I welcome Miramonte friends and alumni who have questions or further interest about my journey and life to email me, or they can check out my blog Alaskauu1.blogspot.com or alaskauu1substack.com or my book on Amazon: Log Cabin Reflections, by Laura Emerson. Inquiries for correspondence, speaking engagements, or articles are always appreciated.

Do you have any favorite memories to share about your time at Miramonte that you haven’t already mentioned? 
LME: I formed a welcome wagon at Miramonte for incoming students. Growing up, my family moved every three to four years, so I was frequently the "new kid on the block." Both my freshman year at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and after I moved to Miramonte my sophomore year of high school, I checked in with the school office in August about new kids. Then a friend and I called to welcome the new students, offered to visit, and chatted about the school, good pizza, and Mexican food in the area, etc. 

Is there anything else about yourself that you would like to share? 
LME: January has our shortest days, with about five and a half hours of daylight, and one and a half hours of sunrise and sunset on either side, this far north in Alaska. Snow depth at our homestead has varied from four feet to eight feet by the end of winter, so we’ll likely have about four to six feet of snow when you are reading this. We have no sidewalks (or roads) so we groom trails on top of the snow with snow machines and passive groomers that smooth the snow to harden overnight, so that we can walk among our outbuildings and go out in the woods to cut firewood. We have to do this after each appreciable snowfall. 

The biggest temperature swing we experienced at our home in one month, from December to January, was from minus 33 degrees up to 33 degrees fahrenheit! But, usually, our January temperatures range from 20 below zero to 20 degrees fahrenheit. On clear nights in January, we may be lucky enough to see the aurora. They are truly awe inspiring. 

We were approached by 14 different producers for Alaska Reality Shows from about 2000 to 2018.  We declined all (because Alaskans know that they are so fake) except for one. An Anchorage producer invited a traveling billionaire and his wife, who flew around the world and filmed their trip, to visit us.