As far as anchorage goes, it's a mixed bag when you compare it to other towns. The blocks here are freakin' huge, so don't let google maps fool you; it's a long way by foot to get anywhere. Thankfully, the bike skills I learned from the artist formerly known as Hot Carl helped me piece together several of the mangled frames and parts in the garage into a few complete bikes. I forgot how long it takes to get anywhere by foot. To emphasize how spread out Anchorage, the nearest grocery store is about a mile, and the blocks are about twice the size of normal. One thing Alaska has a lot of is space, so they don't exactly pack the houses in like cord wood, as my old pappy used to say.
Other ramblings: I still haven't managed to find the fur bikini shop I saw up here a year ago. The residents of this state are an interesting bunch. It's weird to see drunks stumbling all over town while it's still light out, though the days of constant light are almost over. When I first flew in, I took a walk around and noticed that one of the neighbors has a caribou in a cage in their front yard. There are often houses with somewhere between 10 -200 sets of antlers mounted to the roofs.
Grocery stores are interesting. Salmon is cheap and beef is expensive. The frozen food section in grocery stores is absolutely massive. Avocados are about 2-3 dollars a pop and cheese is outrageously priced. You can get elk or reindeer sausage at a pretty reasonable price.
There is a graveyard to the north of our observers pad that is supposed to be a good place to see moose, though I haven't yet. There, I snapped a picture of this, I don't know... memorial...?
I was hoping to get up to Denali National Park this weekend, but with the crappy weather and $100's of dollars of transportation and lodging fees (The park service tends to frown on dirtbags like me who try to do things cheaply) I decided to bag it. Inclement weather is really not a problem, but if it prevents me from seeing Alaska's big 20,000 footer, I wasn't sure it was worth the money. I'll get up there eventually. I overheard several fanatical salmon sports fishermen whispering about it possibly being a "100,000 fish day," whatever that means (Sounds big). I thought about picking up a rod and a license and hitching south, but that too can get spendy. But with no cooler and no camping gear, I wasn't sure how that was going to work. In a couple of weeks I'll be hip deep in fish (literally. No really I'm serious) so I figured that wasn't the best idea either.
I found a place here in town that rents mt. bikes, and a dude I met spoke highly of the rides in Chugach state park. So tomorrow I'm going to head out and ride some singletrack. I also managed to find the local rock gym in town and climb with some locals. It was your typical affair: good bouldering with that stinky shoe smell and a couple mangy dogs that hang out in front. It's funny to me how often you see someone's mutt sleeping on couches in climbing gyms.
Cranking in the gym, it occurred to me how important it is for me to find the local gym, crag or mountain club. That's where I usually can find the type of people I usually hang out with. The biology people I hang out with are cool I suppose, but most of them aren't the real outdoorsy types. Also, they're mostly fisheries oriented, so my "What's your favorite enzyme?" conversation starter doesn't get as many laughs.
So it took a week or so, but I was able to find things to do beside study and drink (Alaskans like to drink). This state has some pretty cool places, but man, you really need a car to get to most of them, and even that won't work sometimes.
In a couple of weeks, I'll likely be off to Kodiak Island or Dutch Harbor. I'll be bringing shoes and a chalk bag, just in case, though the climbing prospects don't seem to be too bright. I've been teaching myself to play the ukulele, so with a bit more practice I might not get punched by any fishermen on the boats I will be stationed on.
That's all for now, Happy Summer everyone!
