SATURDAY
A week after Portland's usual crush of queers that throng to the pride parade and festival and literally take over the streets of PDX for hours afterward, we were to be treated to a much quieter, humbler version of Pride. The word we decided on was "quaint", but said only in the most positive way.
Walking the parade route minutes before it was to begin, I had to go with my gut that we were actually on the correct street, as nary a swish nor sashay could be seen. Finally, within two blocks of where the parade would step off, a small congregation of rainbow-hued folk were gathered. The obligatory drag queen played MC to the event, announcing all (23) floats and entries that passed. A rough count suggested that half of Anchorage's LGBT community was actually in the parade, and the other hundred people were watching. I joke of course. Barely.
And of course, though it was only about 60 degrees, it's never too chilly for a group of gay guys to strip to their skivvies and dance around with great abandon.
Post parade we grabbed coffee at the highly esteemed Kaladi Brothers - a local coffeehouse chain. Factoid: Anchorage has the highest number of coffee outlets per capita in the country. Indeed - in the middle of winter when you've missed the five hours of daylight while you were stuck inside at work, you may need that extra stimulant to keep your motivation up.
We were given the tip to eat halibut sandwiches at the F Street Station. We did this, and they were certainly delicious. However, the showstopper at this place was a giant block of Tillamook Sharp sitting on the counter. The disclaimer above this holy Alter of Cheese says "For Display Only - Do Not Eat." But the handily placed cheese-slicer suggests quite the opposite. The picture's blurriness is indicative of the fact that I was near fainting over the sight of so much cheese.
We made a brief stop at the festival in the park strip (think the South Park Blocks. Now take out all of the trees - ta da! The Anchorage Park Strip!) where we made the arrogant determination that we were nearly the upper crust of good looks in the Anchorage gay community (that's really saying something) but that the quotient of gorgeous dogs was on a level not experienced back here in orygun. This really was a cute little festival though. Though it is a fraction the size of the event that Portland puts on every year, here you could actually sense a feeling of community. Woot! I just filled my quota of heartfelt sincerity - no need for anymore the rest of this blog!
We strolled through downtown Anchorage and visited the very large market that runs Saturdays and Sundays. We also visited the Alaska State Troopers Law Enforcement Museum, drawn by their free admissions policy. Great exhibits and we gave them our money anyway by purchasing a mug and a coffee thermos.
Truth be told, Anchorage is kind of an ugly city. The natural areas that permeate it are what is magical about the place. But when you take a city that is so young (founded in 1914), kick its ass with the most powerful recorded earthquake on the continent (1964) and then provide the fuel for a population boom during some of the ugliest years of architecture (the oil boom from the 70s through early 80s), you don't get the greatest results. Anyway - the remnants of historical Anchorage are scarce:
Yeah there's not much to this building, but given that Anchorage was literally a tent city in 1914, this is a great example of some of the first buildings that brought permanence to the settlement:
I love this block! This pair of buildings could almost be plopped onto NW 23rd without passerby even batting an eye. The statue is of Balto. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto
There is also a statue of "Balto" in NYC at Central Park. The true Balto is none too pleased with this pretender to the throne:
4th Avenue Theater - Anchorage's one example of art deco.
And the old city hall.
Anchorage's current city hall is mostly non-descript, with a whiff of ugly. But it did not inspire complete revulsion (and thereby, fascination) in me as Boston's did, so there is no picture.
We headed out, grabbed some grocery supplies, saw where I used to live until age six & then with a little time to spare before dinner, we trekked to the viewpoint at Flattop. The original plan was to do the hike from the viewpoint up to the top of the mountain at some point, but time was running out on this trip. We went for the photo-ops instead.
There's Mikey!
There's Keegy!
And then some very nice lady who was zoom-illiterate offered to take a picture of both of us.
We journeyed back to the house for a royal feast of leg of lamb (rotisseried on the grill!), savory zucchini pudding and a dessert of fruit tart. Our appetizer combined three of my favorite things in the world: Shrimp. Wrapped in bacon. Rolled in Romano cheese. Broil. Devour. These little miracles are known as Knik River Shrimp - click here for the recipe (side note: the Jim Morgan referenced is the very Jim Morgan that came over that night - my Dad's friend and captain of the boat that took me halibut fishing every summer I visited).
SUNDAY
It rained all day. But again, Mr. Weather was generally in tune with our trip as we had planned to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center & the Anchorage Museum of History and Art this day.
The Native Heritage Center gets a big thumbs up, overall. The only problem is their ticket pricing - $23 for non-Alaskans, and $9 for Alaskan residents. You know, I think with the thousand plus dollars each Alaskan gets every year from the ravaging of their state (Permanent Dividend Fund), they could pay a little more to close that gap. The upshot is that for the combo price of $24 you get admission to both the Heritage Center and the Museum downtown which normally retails for $8 a head.
Tons of knowledge is ensconced in both institutions. The Heritage Center has a lake about which the various tribes are situated in representations of their traditional villages. In each of the houses you can see demonstrations of handicraft and day-to-day life.
We only got through the history part of the Anchorage Museum of History and Art and the exhibits were superbly detailed. I won't say much else as it's all best seen in person.
Our final dinner was pork tacos. To contribute, Mike provided his famous cookie salad, which was gulped down very readily by the locals. After all the dinners described, you may ask what my contribution to any given meal during this trip was. I'll tell you what it was. A pouch of powdered Bernaise Sauce mix. I opened the pouch. Heated it with butter. And milk. And I stirred. Stirred with more fervor and passion than any of those schmucks displayed with their fancy cookie salads, schmancy linguines, snobbish buffalo wings. And NO, if you were to ask the people present the night this was made if I actually completed the sauce to a successful thickness, they would NOT tell you that I failed (got that Mike?).
MONDAY - June 25th
Our last day, already? (Blog readers may alternately find this to be an eternity later)
Our final dining adventure was to a home style breakfast joint called Gwennies. Mike and I shared Reindeer Sausage and Eggs & then shared this walrus.
Brutus is very jealous of this picture.
And finally, I was able to pose the old folks & snap a picture. There's my Dad and stepmom, Kathleen.
Glancing at me an' my Dad, do you see a resemblance? Neither do we. The current popular theories are that my Mom was either having a dalliance with the postman or Jay Leno, thus explaining the chin. Though it means I must acknowledge my "fortunate" chin, I will gladly claim my share of Mr. Leno's wealth. Ante up, Daddy.
And so it was, that two wayward Oregonians ventured through the Alaskan hinterland of strip malls, freeways and squat skyscrapers. And we still saw a moose! Success!
A shout-out of thanks to Ms. Lizzy for providing companionship to BruBru & for providing a free shuttle service back and forth from the airport!
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