A Ho-Hum Anchorage Spring

This image of a Gulf Oil Rig (to clean up spill from ruptured oil tank offshore) appeared in the Anchorage Daily News, and my immediate reaction was that it was a 'steal' from our new statue outside our museum . .. I hope you've seen the earlier blog that showed the $550,000 sculpture of a man? or robot? or tinker toy? placed on the far corner of the Anchorage Museum Block. I'm still trying hard to accept it, but it doesn't work . . . not unlike the apparatus (above) that doesn't work either.

Another spring thing is the annual Strawberry festival for the residents of Pioneer [retirement] Home . . . always a nice event put on by the Pioneers of Alaska. We serve coffee, strawberry shortcake, and have some nice music of the ages (me). Also, there are 3 theatre productions and a choice of dance recitals this week, too!

Flags are at half staff all week for the passing of Gov. Wally Hickel, whom you may remember on a national basis for being Secretary of the Interior, under President Nixon. So many of the founders of the new Anchorage are leaving us, but rapidly being replaced by heirs and new arrivals. ('new' means in the last 50 years). If you are reading this from outside Alaska, you may not know that a newcomer here is called a 'cheechako', still. Many of the old traditions are fading. You don't see fur parkas around like the old days, and no one knows what a billikin is anymore - even the Billikin Lounge is closed. Businesses come and go, and one of my favorite stores to walk thru was Killer Designs. But I guess that was the problem . . . there are others like me who walk thru and don't buy.

Sometimes I drive by an empty lot that wasn't empty yesterday, and two of the recent disappearing buildings are the big house on the SE corner of 5th and L, that used to house doctors' offices, etc. and another building gone is a one story commercial building on F Street, south of 6th Avenue which perhaps was cleared to make parking for the new convention center. You see, the large parking garage that was built across the street is only for the State of Alaska employees. So no tax dollars coming in from there. Yes, careful planning is the key and the Assembly doesn't seem to mind things like - - - no parking built at the museum with the new multi-million addition. Oh, pardon me, I think I'm in a mood, so I'll cut this off here!

Spring Fever in Alaska

This is the season we've been waiting for, as the long winter was getting us down. Alaskans are going every direction these days, with many choices. Even the golf courses are open now, altho' they are still using temporary greens until the turf takes hold. Speaking of grass, one of the 'biggies' is the new baseball field at Mulcahy park. This is a downtown site that is used by American Legion teams, high school teams, and the Alaska Baseball League. You can imagine it gets well worn over the short summer season, so it was well needed, but it is top quality plastic turf with a real dirt pitcher's mound. It was funded by grants to the American Legion, and even the dugouts and scoreboard are new.
You can see the construction in images that detail the work done over the last few months by clicking here.

The Museum has finally put up it's sculpture, which has turned out to be not unlike a robot. It's an example of the English getting even with us for the revolution.
This image shows the erection, and weight of this giant tinker toy, but I haven't heard one person speak positively about it. The Limey designer skipped town shortly after the opening toast ... which was the wise thing to do as he would have been lynched had he stayed. But then, it only cost us $550,000 plus, so what could we expect. The fellow in the red hard hat in this image is from our local company, SteelFab, and one of the 3 who put the plans together. He's a great guy, so I hope he doesn't have to be blamed.

TBA, a local theatre company at Alaska Pacific University is putting on a production of The Sound of Music, for 6 performances, and it is great. Somehow, they came up with the 7 Von Trapp children locally, who sang beautifully and outdid the great movie of years past. The costumes are also wonderful, and the set designed on a rotating circular stage were first-class. The pianist, a local elementary music teacher, carries the whole score admirably, too!

If you are a regular reader of my blogs, you know I'm not reporting everything that's happening around here. There's a fun run, women's run, or some run every weekend, plus bike races, trail walking, and skiing is waning. There are outdoor fairs, trade shows, soccer games, clean-up trail days, and the tourists are starting to clog Fourth Avenue, too. Whee! So why am I sitting indoors writing this. Whoosh, I'm gone!

Second Try for Spring in Anchorage

Just when we thought it was really spring, Mother Nature gave us a few more showers of snow, but that's okay . . . we're really into spring now, and the sun is shining, and we're all busy doing spring cleaning. . . and planting . . . and sunning ourselves. Some of us have harder chores, like this image of Mike Miller and his large animals. He's done a great job with his Alaska collection of live animals, and it's a treat to visit his refuge between Girdwood and Portage. For those of you who don't know, that's about 40 miles south of Anchorage on the most scenic highway anywhere. But along with the beauty, there's a lot of traffic accidents, too . . . the cause can be attributed to speed, sightseeing, dozing, etc.

There's so much going on in Anchorage, it's hard to find time to visit Alyeska for the spring festival. The slush cup is not to be missed, and I hope to post some good shots of it after this weekend, for you. Skiers end their run by trying to ski over a pond of water about 30 ft. and most don't make it. .. it's pretty chilly to get dunked, but feeds to a cheering crowd. There other novelty races, all topped off by a super dinner at the Double Musky, a world-class restaurant. At the other end of the restaurant list is the ever popular Bake Shop with it's bottomless bowl of soup, and cinnamon rolls to die for.

Weekends mean trade shows in town, too, such as the Sportsman's Show, the Women's Show, etc., and with the new Dena'ina Center, we have a lavish convention hall to house these big events. (I like to pronounce this phonetically, but actually it's correct to say Dee-9-a, which is a native tribe) The University of Alaska Anchorage also has several jazz events, plays, speeches, etc., and it's only the impossible parking situation that keeps me, and others, from attending more. Their sports program has also accelerated, with the woman's teams being recognized nationally. I am speaking of basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics. ... . The men are hanging in there, but the hockey program is still struggling, and swimming was cut out when the feds told them they had to comply with women's offerings in equal amounts. I will be posting more pictures soon . . . just don't have time these days. ... but check back!

Spring Breakup in Anchorage?

This is the scene downtown on Saturday night . .. the Glacier Brewpub is one of the most popular restaurants in town, and it is adjacent to Orso's Restaurant, also first-class. Between the two is a small indoor mall with a classy new shoe store called Shusz-Q. It just had it's big opening, and this is where the crowds are found. However, this image shows what a young gal with a pickup truck can do after a few drinks. Yep. She crashed it into the horse-drawn carriage parked outside. Fortunately, the horses escaped injury, but not some trauma, as the 130 yr. old restored carriage was totaled. . . not a typical night in old Anchor town.

This morning, we woke up to a treat. . . one more snowfall. I was pretty surprised, but then it's not unusual to get one last blast. It's warm enough now to almost melt completely when it hits the ground.

This is election day and I'm sticking to the addage of "Vote Early, vote often". I didn't really, but I know there are some of another political pursuasion that don't know you vote 'once'. Check back, and maybe I'll be posting prettier pictures.

Anchorage Symphony and Opera

As spring arrives, the breakup leaves outdoor treks rather mushy, there are cultural opportunities indoors to lure the locals to acquire some cultural events. Namely, the past week brought the Symphony, highlighted by a quirky presentation of "An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise" by Peter Maxwell Davies, which ends with a bagpipe solo by Joe Albrech playing while walking down the left aisle. The Opera comes next weekend, and that is always a special event, too.

On a personal level, the winter ended with a trip to Florida, which made me again appreciate the positives of Alaska. We don't have traffic jams, altho' some refer to a backup of twenty cars a jam, and waiting thru two traffic lights. As for crowds, we have nothing like 'Downtown Disney". It took an hour to find a parking space in a huge parking lot, and walking down the strip was not unlike Christmas shopping. Lots to see and do, but I'm sure the reader will agree it's great to get away, but greater to get home.

Basketball season is about over now, in the local schools, and the Final Four nationally, and we have so many sports bars here that they're crowded out the former jazz joints. Sports are just more magnetic by comparison, and more profitable for the clubs.

This remains a good vacation destination, and a land of opportunity. Bring your laptop, because there's free wireless internet everywhere, and you'll stay in touch with the whole world! Don't forget to take out travel insurance because you just never know when Redoubt might 'blow' .

The Iditarod Race is On!

The crowds brave the cold, and stand for hours waiting and watching every move!

. . .
The dogs are rarin' to go. Note the booties on their paws.

These are not the best photos of our Iditarod Race, and if you want to see the full leaderboard, goto HERE which will show you all the racers, and update them frequently. It's the big thing in Alaska this week, but I won't be following it, as I'm off to the lower states for some warm sunshine, and cruisin'. Of course, I'll be online along the way, which is an advantage of modern technology.

Other than that, winter is supposed to be winding down in Anchorage, but this morning it was in the single digits again, with promises of a warmer sun tomorrow. . . so check back, and subscribe to my blog, too!

Fur Rendezvous Continues!

Things are pretty busy in Anchorage this week, but I managed to copy some pictures from the Anchorage Daily News, to post for you.

A fairly new event is the Running of the Reindeer, not unlike Pampalona's Bull Run. Now in it's third year, it's more popular than ever, and the runners wear some wild and crazy costumes for this two block race.

My personal interest has been the annual Pancake Feed by the Pioneers of Alaska, which is very popular, and our building is right on the parade route, too. It was pretty cold out there watching the parade, and many came in to our breakfast just to get warm, but we had over a thousand diners over these two days.

I especially liked the snow sculpture, entitled "Qasida," Aleut for "go fish," which tied for first place.

My other 'thing' is chaperoning the queen and princess of Fur Rondy, and I'm sorry I don't have an image of Jessica and Chelsey to post, but I'll try to get one for my next post. The Miners and Trappers Ball will be a good photo op, and this happens as the end of Fur Rendezvous and the start of the Iditarod, which now is a continuing event. So check back next week!