I am a proud Montana gal. Yessiree. I have a deep propensity for the West. Mountains, cowboys, rodeos….they all speak to my native Montanan heart. However, for 6 weeks this summer, this Montana gal felt more like a gal from Alaska. I’ll admit. I ate my fair share of crab, salmon, Yak burgers….and baked Alaska ice cream. I would reactively looked skyward whenever I heard bush planes flying overhead, wondering if I knew the person at the controls. I quickly learned to tell the time of day based on the train whistle as it departed or arrived at the Anchorage Depot. As I went about my day, I would casually search the horizon for a view of the very elusive Denali. Heck. I even learned to sleep without darkness outside my window. And just like a true Alaskan, I anticipated a moose crossing my path at the drop of a dime. Yessiree. I had a blast hanging out in Alaska with my fellow Skytresses and Skyters. I had so much fun being an honorary Alaskan this summer….this Montana gal plans to return to Anchorage next summer to do it all again.
The best thing about flying to Anchorage is that everyone on the crew is excited to explore the city. It’s infectious! Heck. Not one Skytress or Skyter batted an eye whenever we made plans to meet in the lobby at 7am to go to breakfast at the Snow City Cafe. Okay. Maybe we silently batted an eye. But, we all showed up in the lobby at 7am! If you are not familiar with the Snow City Cafe, you need to know one very important detail. Local Anchoragites and tourists flock to the infamous Snow City Cafe everyday. Thus, each week, our goal was to beat them all to the restaurant. I’m proud to report we were victorious each week. I’ll admit. The taste of victory is even sweeter when it is served with a delectable egg omelette filled with crab and a hot cup of Milky Way Mocha on the side.
My first trip to Anchorage Skyter Wayne, Skytress Kari, Skytress Kelly and I decided to rent bikes and ride The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. The bike path hugs the Anchorage coastline one way for 11 miles. Of course, we told each other that we were excited to ride the bike path and get a feel for Anchorage. If truth be told….we were going on a moose hunt. Heck. Even the owner of the bike shop guaranteed we would see a moose. Skyter Wayne told us he saw several moose on his last bike ride. I’ll admit. The possibility of seeing a moose thrilled me and scared me at the same time. For 22 miles, I kept my eyes peeled for moose hanging out along the trail. I’m sad to report we didn’t encounter any moose. Nope. Not even one pooping moose! “Pooping moose” was our rally call all month long thanks to Skyter Wayne. Don’t feel too bad for us though. We did have a Denali sighting from the coast line…which is a very rare thing indeed. Yessiree. It more rare than seeing a moose! On our ride back to town I bought several photographs from a local artist. I’ll admit. It’s been a month of Sundays since I last road a bike. But, I was determined to get myself and my photographs safely back to town. I figured if Captain Cook could navigate a boat around unexplored Alaska, I could navigate a bike down a smoothly paved bike trail holding on to photographs. I know Captain Cook wouldn’t have been impressed. But, my crew sure was! Afterwards, we went to the 49th State Brewery for dinner. The rooftop dining area that overlooks the coastline and Alaskan Railway Depot became the new neighborhood hangout for me and my crews for the following weeks.
My second Anchorage trip I was without my friends, Skyter Wayne, Skytress Kelly and Skytress Kari. However, in true Skyter Wayne form, Wayne texted me to see what was on my agenda for this layover. Wayne heartily approved everything I had planned. My Skytress In-Charge, Ni-col, accompanied me on my adventures. We met up with Skytress Cynthia and took a trolly ride around Anchorage. It was on this ride that I finally saw a pooping moose. Mr. Moose was in the distance eating. Mr. Moose could have cared less that we were watching him eat. In contrast, we were ecstatic. Sadly, this would be my lone moose sighting in Anchorage. Well, except for the moose in the Anchorage airport that greeted us each week. He was the best pooping moose of all the pooping moose in Anchorage. Yessiree. He didn’t flinch even once when we stood next to him to get a crew photo!
Skytress Ni-col and I headed to the Ulu factory after our trolly tour. I regretted not buying an Ulu knife years ago when I was in Fairbanks. I wasn’t going to let this happen again. So, I didn’t. An Ulu knife was traditionally used by Alaska Natives to skin and clean animals, cut food and even cut blocks of snow and ice to make an igloo. I don’t anticipate using my Ulu knife to make an igloo. I think I’ll just use the rounded knife to chop my herbs and possibly chocolate bars for baking.
We learned on our Anchorage trolly tour that Alaskans consume more ice cream per capita than any state. So, the fact there are two Wild Scoops ice cream locations within one block of our hotel didn’t seem excessive in the least. Wild Scoops is know for their creative flavors. They use innovative ingredients in their ice cream such as spruce tips and fireweed. Mostly, though, they are known for their baked Alaska ice cream cones. My first taste of a baked Alaska ice cream cone came after Skytress Ni-col and I walked back from Ship Creek where we watched the fishermen fly fish. I’ll admit. This trip to Wild Scoops was the first of many this summer. As an honorary Alaskan, I felt it was my civic duty to take all my crew members here and force them to get a baked Alaska waffle cone. Funny, not one person complained. No siree. They were too busy enjoying the delectable marshmallow topping.
Skyter Wayne and I flew to Anchorage the following week. Our Skyter In-Charge, Yessid, joined us for our layover adventures….starting with breakfast at the Snow City Cafe. We happily did some shopping before we went on another trolly tour. It was Skyter Yessid’s first time to Anochorage and we wanted him to get a great feel for the city. Afterwards Skyter Wayne walked us over to The Kobuk. It’s a unique gift shop and cafe. I wanted to try their famous house blend Samovar tea. I learned Samovar tea originated with the Russians. Samovar is actually the vessel the tea is brewed in. The Kobuk Samovar tea has been hand-blended for over 50 years. It contains cinnamon, cinnamon oil, cloves and orange. It has a slight sweetness to it, although, it doesn’t contain any sugar. Of course, I bought some Samovar tea to take home. I’ll admit. I bought more Samovar tea several weeks later. What can I say? I’m a tea connoisseur. Plus, the tea smells absolutely incredible and tastes absolutely Devine! Each week I happily walked my crews to The Kobuk. Not surprisingly, they would happily purchase packages of Samovar tea to take home, too. What can I say? As an honorary Alaskan this was always a proud moment for me.
Alaskans and honorary Alaskans such as myself know winter isn’t the only time inclement weather materializes in The Last Frontier. Unfortunately, Mother Nature reared her ugly head on several layovers. But, a little rain didn’t stop us from having fun. No siree, Bob. We came prepared with umbrellas! Take that Mother Nature. Skytress Jenet and I took advantage of the foul weather on one of our layovers and went to the Anchorage Museum. The Alaska Native artifacts and the narrative videos were extremely informative. I still cannot fathom how Alaska Natives survived the dark, cold winters in remote areas years ago. Heck. I marvel at how they still endure harsh winters in the extremely remote areas of Alaska. The Alaskan fortitude will forever flabbergast this Montana gal.
My last trip to Anchorage we affectionately called, “The Wayne Tour”…named after our beloved Skyter friend Wayne. Sadly, Skyter Wayne wasn’t on our last layover. Happily, we stayed in contact with Skyter Wayne throughout the day to keep him abreast of all our adventures. Of course, the first texts from Skytress Jenet, Skytress Suzy and me to Skyter Wayne came from the Snow City Cafe. Yessiree. We couldn’t have started the Skyter Wayne Palooza tour anywhere else. Afterwards, we hit multiple gift shops in Skyter Wayne’s honor. We enthusiastically devoured some baked Alaska ice cream cones at Wild Scoops. Later in the day we headed over to our old stomping ground, the 49th State Brewery for drinks and dinner to round out “The Wayne Tour”. Skytress Suzy and I threw caution to the wind and ordered the yak burger. Each week our waitresses had recommended this burger. Each week I passed on the burger. I couldn’t get over the name or the picture of the yak looking back at me from the menu. I’ll admit. Skytress Skytress Suzy and I were pleasantly impressed with the yak burger. As Skytress Suzy liked to say, …we didn’t yak from the yak burger. No siree. It was scrumptious!
I had a slight pain in my Montanan heart the morning of my last Anchorage layover. The locals I meet and saw on my many layovers had become my new found friends. I’ll admit. I loved tooling around the city like a local Anchoragite. I loved dropping into the Fire Island Bakeshop to grab an Alaskan scone to eat on my flight home to St. Louis. I adored having dinner outside on the roof top at the 49th Street Brewery surrounded by mountains and the coast of Alaska. Heck. On my first layover daylight was the norm at bedtime. My last layover Alaska was quickly transitioning into it’s nearly 24 hours of darkness. Yessiree. Each day the daylight diminished by 5 minutes. I’ll admit. I was going to miss this weekly daylight transition. Just like so many things in Alaska….It was utterly fascinating.
I know without a doubt I will head back to Anchorage next year. Heck. It’s a great place to be to beat the summer heat. Yessiree. The 60 degree weather was a beautiful reprieve from the hot humid weather at home. I’ll admit. I already have plans for my future layovers. I plan to venture out on the Alaska Railroad and explore the glaciers in Prince William Sound. I promised myself I would eat some reindeer sausage they cook and sell on the streets of Anchorage. For some reason my mind and belly wouldn’t allow me partake this summer. However, I have it on great authority from Skyter Yessid that the reindeer is better than the hot dogs sold on the streets of New York. Now that is an endorsement from a New Yorker that cannot be disregarded.
I want to thank my fellow Skytress and Skyter friends for an awesome summer. (I’m pretty confident they are reading this blog post). Each week I commuted off to work with a smile on my face. I knew I was going to have a grand time in Alaska. Without fail, I did thanks to them. We laughed. We explored. We ate….maybe a wee bit too much. Their excitement fueled my excitement for our Anchorage layovers. Happily, I have a suitcase full of exceptional memories from my Anchorage layovers. I don’t know how we are all going to work the same Anchorage trips next year. But, we all know Skytresses and Skyters are miracle workers. So, I am confident it will happen. Yessiree. Our Anchorage Adventures await us. Well, I should say our Alaskan Adventures await us. If we get our Juneau trips back next summer, we will have to bid them. I’ll admit. I have plans in place for this layover as well. What can I say? This Montana gal can’t get the Alaska gal out of her.
