Posts Tagged ‘Alaska’

Anchorage in Winter

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A few days ago a friend mentioned Alaska and photographs, so I went back and looked at some of mine, and thought I would share a few. Downtown Anchorage, with the Chugach Mountains in the background, and the Cook Inlet in the foreground. Down below, at the edge of the water, are chunks of frozen […]

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Anchorage, Alaska: Fur Rondy: True Fur Hats

Continue reading Anchorage, Alaska:  Fur Rondy:  True Fur Hats

    In 1935, when Anchorage Alaska had a population of 3,000, and winters meant hibernating with a fire and cartloads of wood, there began a festival.     A festival set in February: the dead of snow bound winter.     It was called The Fur Rendezvous, or shortened today to The Fur Rondy.     This festival was timed to coincided […]

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Road to Alaska: Section VIII

Continue reading Road to Alaska: Section VIII

Epilogue: Northern Lights       It was Monday night, Kieara’s birthday. A group of us went out, listened to a poetry reading, drank heavily at a few bars and spent some time dancing. I arrived home in the darkness of two thirty in the morning, and still being wide awake, drank some red wine and played […]

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Road to Alaska: Section VII

Continue reading Road to Alaska: Section VII

Down to Size       It didn’t take very long to settle down in Alaska, through my bartending job at the Captain Cook Hotel, I instantly made some wonderful friends. There was Matt, who had worked as a bartender, but who now ran a used bookstore down the street. There was Paula, who also became a […]

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Road to Alaska: Section VI

Continue reading Road to Alaska: Section VI

The Motorcycle       When my motorcycle coughed, sputtered, coughed again, juddered, coughed a few more times, and finally rolled to a stop by the side of the road –half way up the AlCan- I thought it was because my motorcycle was jealous. Jealous of the cute little Yamaha 100 I had rented in Nepal the […]

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Road to Alaska: Section V

Continue reading Road to Alaska: Section V

A Week Early       One afternoon I stopped at a gas station that was definitely in the middle of nowhere. My bike was at 75 miles from the last fill-up, 75 miles from the last gas station and I was beginning to wonder if another gas station would ever arrive.       The gas station sat […]

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Road to Alaska: Section IV

Continue reading Road to Alaska: Section IV

The AlCan: Middle of Nowhere       The phrase –The Middle of Nowhere- is thrown about with consummate ease. To some people New Jersey is the middle of nowhere, while to others it is the middle of the Gobi desert. To me, it’s where there are no people around, or on a straight open road.       […]

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Road to Alaska: Section III

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Alaskan Humor and Wildlife      Classic Alaskan joke:       What is the state bird of Alaska?       The Mosquito.       When the people in the bar found out I was new, they almost fell over each other to tell me this joke. I didn’t get it at first, so they had to explain. “You know, ‘cause […]

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North to Alaska: Section II

Continue reading North to Alaska: Section II

Romance      Alaska is the last place in the United States I wanted to live.      No, wait, read that the other way around.       I had lived in the four corners of this country; I grew up in Southern California, summered in Manhattan and Portland and spent over a year in New Orleans. I felt that […]

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North To Alaska: Section I

Continue reading North To Alaska: Section I

That Sensation      I left San Francisco on May 3rd, 2001, heading north. A familiar feeling arose in my gut, a simple and powerful sensation. The feeling of movement, freedom. As the bridge opened up, and the tarmac sped past under the wheels of my motorcycle, I looked up –north- toward somewhere new.      The first time […]

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Finding Hope

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     I awoke late and hung-over on September 12, 2001, and I needed some hope.      The previous day, while visiting Home Depot in my hometown of Anchorage Alaska, a man in the check-out line started babbling that someone had blown up New York City.      He was just one of the paranoid nut-jobs who had moved to […]

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