Fun with Hippies :) Anchorage Style

Of course, we took advantage of our first morning with out Russ by sleeping in. We got a nice normal start to the day by 1o a.m. Since our time with Russ had been very action oriented, seeing as he only had 10 days to enjoy this great state, we didn't have much time for laundry or blog writing. Katie and I decided to designate today as our "catch up" day, to help us get back in order and all caught up on our necessities before leaving the Anchorage area. We found a coin laundry where I dropped Katie off at while I went to update the blog. Katie finished all of our laundry by the time I had completed one blog, so I came back to pick her up so that she could join me at Barnes and Noble while I tried to record accounts of our adventure. We weren't sure what the rest of the day had in store for us. The day before we had contacted our 2 remaining contacts in Alaska, by friend Dave in Seward and friends of a friend, Megan and Scott. Dave told us that his door was always open, even if he wouldn't be home, it was literally unlocked and we could come any time and make ourselves at home; we could not get ahold of Megan and Scott. Angella, my friend from Sears who put us in contact with them, had warned us that they often went camping on the weekends and may not be around and being that it was Saturday, this is what we expected. While we were at Barnes and Noble however, our phone rang. Megan and Scott had gone camping but had headed back

to the city due to some less the favorable weather and a little ill-preparedness. They told us they would be around the rest of the weekend and we were welcome to join, so we did. As we arrived at their place something stole my glance from across the street. It was a moose, right in the middle of the sub-division eating their neighbors bushes. Megan was outside and we drew this amazing sight to her attention. She told us that he had been in their yard earlier, but the dogs chased him off when she let them outside.

Awesome! Anyway, Megan and Scott welcomed us into their home and showed us around. We met their 2 dogs, Wrangell and Cubby, then decided it was time for dinner. The consensus was Moose's Tooth. Katie and I had been to this place before, actually the day of Russ' arrival, but we had enjoyed it immensely and were in the pizza mood again. Once we were seated, we shared our mutual love for garlic over an amazing appetizer, then went to town on the amazing pizza. By the time we were done only 3 slices had survived after a once abundant 16 slice family. Stuffed, we headed back to the house and stayed up watching SNL for a bit. It may have been a rerun, we were not sure, but Tina Fey was the host and there was an abundance of Sara Palin jokes. It was really neat to be around some Alaskans for these jokes since they hit just a little bit closer to home. In the morning we all woke up casually and started the day off slow, doing a little reading but more so just hanging around and talking. We had decided the night before that we would all go discing together at the Alyeska Resort where Russ took us on the tram ride to the top of the mountains if the weather was nice enough. Though it was overcast, it was barely raining, so we decided to try it out. Though Megan and Scott were avid discers they had never played this course, apparently it was very new. We got to the course and we were immediately suspicious of its difficulty level; we could see every hole from the spot we were standing. We found out where hole 1 was and instantly found out the course was not what we assumed it to be. It was definitely new and had obviously not been played much. There was tall grass everywhere and little marshes caused by the

mountain runoff which made finding your discs, let alone the path to the next hole, a challenge. The highlights of the excursion was 1) Scott's unparalleled ability to drive into the woods 2) My unfortunate run through a swamp which covered my pants in iron filled mud producing a beautiful diarrhea colored stain down the back of my pants 3) Megan's amazing 100 ft putt on

hole 7. After our discing fun, Megan and Scott wanted to take us to Whittier, a harbor town about 10 minutes from where we were that is only accessible by a 2 1/2 mile long tunnel that is really a train tunnel. It is only big enough for 1 lane of traffic to go through at a time, so you have to wait to enter about every half hour. It was a really unique experience going through the tunnel, straddling the train tracks, and seeing the crudely dug bare rock all around you. We made it through to Whittier and decided to stop at a bar long enough to have a beer and then turn around and make the next light through the tunnel. We couldn't spend to much time in Whittier, because there isn't much to do, but also because we were meeting one of Megan and Scott's friends for dinner. Scott had decided to show off his grilling skills for us, so we met Brandon at the grocery store and picked up 4 lbs. of crab legs as

well as 4 lobster tails. Scott grilled it all up while Megan prepared the sides and Katie, Brandon, and I waited with anticipation. It wasn't long before the beautiful spread was reduced to mere scraps and our waist line was about 2 inches bigger. After our feast, Scott was set on taking us to the World Famous Chilkoot Charlie's! They said that this place, though not typically their kind of bar, was an Anchorage must. The bar was HUGE and that is an understatement. If you browse the website you can find a map and all the different rooms that are offered. Every corner you turn has a different feel than the room you just left. There was live music and one stop, heavy metal and mosh pits around the next, then a pool hall near the back, and this was only what we saw as we walked to the back to the Bird House. This place was great. Even though it is attached to such a

huge bar, it felt like you were in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere. The bar is tilted as you enter. The bar sank during the earthquake and they have never fixed it. There is also a button in the middle of the bar, that if you push, you get the honor of buying everyone seated at the bar a shot. We sat down and enjoyed some fine PBR's. Every time one is ordered the bartender rings a bell and shouts "PBRRRR!" to mild applause. We stayed for a while having fun people watching and making small talk with the bartender. Just as we were getting ready to go, a girl, curious about the button in the middle of the bar, lifted the glass off of it and was about to push it. A local seated next to her stopped her from doing it. Scott and I looked over at him and gestured that we were so close. Perhaps feeling sympathy for us or maybe because he had the sudden urge to spend $80 bucks he lifted the glass and proceeded to ring the button 3 long times. Everyone cheered as we prepared for our free shot. The bartender poured about 15 shots and proceeded to pass them out to everyone. We cheered the unfortunate buyer and downed our drinks. It wasn't long before someone else charged into the bar and rang the bell again. We left soon after and bedded down for the night. We woke up on Labor Day much the same as the day before. Megan and Scott had bought some bloody mary ingredients the night before with some special salmon

infused vodka made by an Alaskan distillery. The bloody's were amazing, especially with the hint of salmon to round off the taste. After breakfast, we decided to take a dip in the hot tub and play some Uno and euchre with the waterproof cards. The way it turned out, teams were Megan and I against Katie and Scott, AKA righty's vs. lefty's! We soaked for 1 Uno and 3 euchre games before we got out of the tub. In the end the lefty's won, but Megan and I weren't finished yet, and we requested a rematch later on in the evening. We all decided to go for a bike ride down a path that passed right by Megan and Scott's house. We went to their neighbors to borrow some bikes

then we set off for our ride. We made a few stops to enjoy some of the local fare around town before we made our way to blockbuster to pick out a movie for the evening. Katie picked out Alice in Wonderland even though we had already seen the movie in Chicago. Along our ride back about 5 minutes from their house we stumbled upon another moose. This guy was right next to a lake where there were about 10 people fishing from shore, not paying attention to the moose at all. We stopped for some pictures and then headed back to Megan and Scott's. We sat down to settle the euchre score, but unfortunately, team righty just couldn't get it together and after

4 more games, we finally admitted defeat. Megan made us some crab cakes out of the knuckles from the previous evenings meal which were phenomenal. Megan and Scott had to go back to work the next day, so we made it an early night after a long day. In the morning, Katie and I packed up CJ and decided to head down to Seward to stay a few days with my buddy Dave. As we were leaving, we again saw the moose that greeted us outside on the first day, so we snapped another picture before heading out of Anchorage.

Special thanks to Megan and Scott for being such gracious hosts and opening up their house to us. We had a great time and can't wait to see you guys at Hardly Strictly (fingers crossed)!