13 Things about Anchorage

I’d never been to Anchorage before my recent 2 week stay. I wish I had been there under circumstances that would have allowed me to get to know it a little better. I thought I might be able to come up with a Thursday 13 about Anchorage, at least about my trip there, and not have any of it be sad hospital things. Let’s see how I do.

1. I have a relative in Anchorage, who I don’t think I’ve met before! How wild is that? My mom’s father was divorced before he married my Grandma, and he had two children from his first marriage. So my mom’s sister, Lori, has 5 kids, one of whom is Dale, who lives in Anchorage and came to visit one afternoon. It was really nice to meet him (perhaps we met when we were living in Fairbanks, though neither of us remember it, so perhaps not), and to hear stories from his side of the family. They lived on the old homestead before we did, and perhaps for a bit again after, and he caught me up to date on the fate of the old place. Short story: sawdust as insulation is a bad idea, as it is a fire hazard. Nonetheless, the land is still in the family, though there’s no structure there right now. It’s also pretty nice to know that there’s family there in Anchorage to visit my mom and keep her from getting too lonely.
2. I have a bloggy friend in Anchorage as well! The lovely Michelle from Scribbit came out one day and took me to lunch at the very Alaskan Moose’s Tooth, a local brewery and pizza place. At that point I was very excited to just get away from the hospital, and would have been happy with McDonald’s or even a grocery store I think, but she showed me a good time, with lively conversation and a charming wit, and of course, very yummy pizza. Very much appreciated, Michelle, thank you. 🙂
3. There’s a winter carnival in Anchorage, which happened to be going on right when I was there. Sadly, I didn’t get motivated enough to get out and see any of it in person, but it was still fun to read about it in the paper and find out what Alaskans think of as fun winter activities. There was Running with the Reindeer, reindeer sausage eating contests (held right after the running, funnily enough), outhouse races, and of course, dog races. Looks to have been a good time.
4. The mountains are sure beautiful there. I couldn’t see the water from where I was, but there was a beautiful walk between the hotel and the hospital (indoor) with large picture windows framing the view of the snow covered landscape, and it was heartening to see the beautiful mountains every morning and evening as I walked back and forth.
5. Ice is slippery. I kind of thought that I was slipping more than other folks, because I’m from California where we don’t have to deal with it too much. But one of the nurses at the hospital said that quite a few people had come in with broken bones, due to the weather warming up (melting the snow) and then getting cold again, making that snow melt into hard frozen slippery stuff.
6. Coming from the Bay Area, the local news was a crack up. The first few days I was there, there was a warming trend, with temperatures reaching the high 30s and even low 40s at one point. The weather folks on TV were not happy about this trend, as it makes things harder on the dogs in the dog sled races if it’s too warm. So they kept saying they were hoping for cold weather before Rondy (Fur Rendezvous, the winter carnival) and the start of that very famous dog sled race, the Iditerod. When one newscaster dared to pipe up and say that he kind of liked the balmy weather they were having, he was disparaged with a scornful “Wimp!” from his colleagues.
7. Cheating a bit here, because this is specific to the hospital. Providence Medical Center, where my mom is, is a Catholic hospital. Because it is Catholic, and the hotel where I stayed is also Catholic, there are crucifixes hanging on every wall. I noticed that rather than the sad, dying Jesus that most crucifixes seem to portray, the ones in the hospital and the hotel seem to be ascending already, with a spirit of great joy. Good move for a hospital, I gotta say.
8. Walking around Anchorage, I noticed moose droppings in the snow, but I didn’t see any moose tracks in the snow.  How does that happen?  Probably just that I wasn’t looking very closely.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see any moose wandering around.  People were shocked that I didn’t see any, since they’re supposedly everywhere, but I didn’t.
9. In a true glimpse of what I would consider white trashy, one day while out trying to get some exercise and fresh air, I was frightened off by some scary looking dogs up on a roof.  I mean, who puts the dogs up on the roof?  Kinda trashy, right?  Anyway, I was scared and turned around.  They probably wouldn’t jump off of the roof and attacked me, but who knows, why take a chance. Right?
10. There was this goofy commercial on TV, which I tried to find for you on YouTube, but I couldn’t find it.  It was this old guy who owns furniture stores, dancing along like a total dork to the totally dorky song for Fur Rondy.  Gosh, I wish I could find it on YouTube.  You’d have a laugh, I promise.
11. One day I went to lunch at TGI Fridays, and walked back to the hotel, and stopped in a Fur Exchange store.   Growing up in Fairbanks in the early 70s, even animal lovers saw that fur trapping was a very traditional way of life, and fur lined jackets and so on weren’t only for the rich and famous.  They weren’t cheap, but they weren’t really the status symbol they are in the lower 48.  What do I know, they might be casual in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but in California, they’re kind of a big deal.  Anyway, I stopped at the store, and walked around between all of the fur and ivory based tourist items, including Eskimo yo-yos, gloves, jackets, dolls, jewelry, etc.  Some of it was beautiful, and I started to think….what if….but then my animal loving, tree hugging, commie pinko lefty sensibilities took over, and I left without making any purchases.
12. I found that while walking around, I couldn’t get the song out of my head, Anchorage, by Michelle Shocked….”Leroy says Hello…”
13. I’ve kind of run out of steam getting to 13…all I can say is that I was struck by the friendliness of the people there, from the checker at Fred Meyer to the Thrifty van driver who was born in Hawaii and has lived in Alaska for the last 15 years or so, and joked that living in states 50 & 49, he guessed he should move to the 48th state when he gets too old to deal with the ice and cold in Alaska.  I think that’s Arizona, so I hope he’s ready for some serious heat.