An Anchorage limosine People who live in Anchorage are used to being the butt of jokes made by those who consider themselves “real” Alaskans. You’ve heard the dings (“Anchorage isn’t Alaska…but you can see it from there”) and the derogatory nicknames (“Anchoragua”) and so on, but here’s the thing: Anchorage enables those who love it to have their cake and eat it too. No, Anchorage is not the fulfillment of some Hollywood-cliche Alaskana — we residents (what ARE we called?…
The Chugach Mountains cast an early morning shadow over Anchorage. Riding point for the Chugach is Flattop Mountain, LITERALLY Anchorage’s backyard and the most-climbed mountain in Alaska. From the Glen Alps Trailhead, it’s anywhere from 30 minutes (if you’re running) to a couple of hours (if you’re waddling). I tend to be more in the middle: my average time runs about 40 minutes. Flattop Mountain from between the first and second saddles Last week I took two jaunts up the…
Looking east up Turnagain Arm toward Portage A friend was chastising me recently, wondering where the blog accounts of my adventures in Alaska were. I had to reply that, sadly, there hadn’t been much in the way of adventure since I returned north. Rather, I’ve mostly been preoccupied with the punch list for my house, playing beer league hockey and the various aspects of my job search. Well, hockey ended this past weekend (we lost in the championship game, 1-0)…