Alaskan Adventure

Day 3- Trick or Treat the Alaskan Way

To start our day today, Lori introduced me to the local coffee franchise, The Kaladi Brothers. The first store was opened 32 years ago and now you can find 15 stores/kiosks in south central Alaska making it second only to Seattle in the number of coffee shops per capita. Also there are tons of little privately owned coffee kiosks around Anchorage selling Kaladi Brothers coffee. They like their coffee here!

With caffeination in hand we headed to downtown Anchorage to find the Visitor Center. Here you can find every brochure in existence of what to do while in Alaska....and Liz. Liz works at the Visitor Center and is a font of information as you would imagine and quite the character. We enjoyed talking with her and getting the “scoop” on everything! Although downtown was fairly quiet when we got there it quickly became a hub of activity. We found ourselves in the middle of Trick or Treat Street. Several families dressed in all kinds of adorable costumes populated the streets of downtown and trick or treated in the stores. I scored some candy from one store by telling them that I was dressed up like an old lady but then I felt bad so I gave the candy to a little Ninja Turtle in a stroller! We had a great time people watching and shopping....of course. 

The day ended on a high note when Lori made an official offer on the house we both fell in love with yeasterday. Hopefully all will go as planned and she will close in December....the perfect time to move to Alaska!

I am so glad that I came on this short little adventure. I’m so excited for my little sister because this is truly a magical place that I think is a perfect fit for her. I’m really looking forward to using that guest room that I made sure she had!

The only bear I hope to be this close to...ever!
Carriage rides for the trick or treaters	This couple was a hoot!

Poor Rudolph!

 A sign that it was going to be a great day!

Alaskan Adventure

Day 2 - House Hunters

Today was actually our second day of house hunting with realtor Tim. Yesterday he took us around to 7 house but only 2 ended up on “to be considered” list. There is a lot of tract housing in Anchorage and with all of the mountains surrounding us, we are hoping to find a house with some type of view of something other than the next door neighbors.

We looked at 7 more houses today but didn’t begin until 10 because the sun didn’t come up until 9:13am. If I lived here I would see more sunrises than I ever had before! I’m getting to know Anchorage a little better but it is a sprawling city that covers over 1900 miles and has a population of nearly 300,000 people. This city certainly earns the award for the nicest people per square mile in my opinion. Almost everyone we have met so far were very friendly and welcoming. I kind of felt related to the restaurant owners by the time we left the restaurant where we ate lunch! It was a beautiful sunny day so maybe that is what put everyone in a good mood.

We did find a house that Lori liked above the rest and is hoping to move forward on. Now it is a waiting game until all the paperwork goes through, the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. Hopefully tomorrow we will learn that things are progressing smoothly.  In anticipation of good news we decided to hold a pre- celebration at the 49th State Brewery in downtown Anchorage tonight. The beer was good and the elk sausage pizza delicious!

Turnagain Arm of the Gulf ( North end of Cook Inlet)

Alaskan Adventure

Day 1 - Early Bird Gets the Plane

I am not a morning person. Usually my tank doesn’t run empty until 11or 11:30pm so I am not an early riser. Last night I tried to go to bed early but anticipation of my solo adventure ahead made sleep very difficult. The positive thing about a 6:40am flight is that there is tremendously less traffic on the highways at 4:30am and shorter lines at security. However,  it might have been my imagination but it seemed like the TSA agents were a tad bit grumpier in the wee hours. Any over enthusiastic traveler who inadvertently stepped over the yellow waiting line before their turn with  the TSA agent checking ID’s and boarding passes, got a firm scolding from said agent. I made sure my tingling toes were a good 2 inches behind that magical line. I had no time for a stark white room interrogation today!

The downside of an early flight obviously, is the tossing and turning the night before caused by the worry that you’re going to oversleep! 

The clue to the destination of my adventure is given away in my title- yes I’m headed to Alaska! I’m meeting up with my little sister who is soon to become an Alaskan resident. She is relocating from Northern California  to Anchorage to begin her own great adventure. When I learned that she was going house hunting this week,  I invited myself along. Who wouldn’t fly to Alaska in order to snoop in other people’s houses? My parttime gig this year is very advantageous!

I am currently on my second and last leg of the trip from Seattle to Anchorage. Since I had a little sleep on my first leg ( and Starbucks in the Seattle airport) I felt a little more sociable  and struck up a conversation with my seat mate. He was born and raised in Alaska and was returning from a visit to Colorado relatives. Come to find out he is a commercial salmon/ crab fisherman during the summer and is out to sea months at a time. I told him that I was familiar with his work ( I eat salmon and crab- ha!). It is so interesting to visit with people with such different life experiences. Our conversation reminded me of the book I read called the Alaskan Laundry which was about a young twenty something New Yorker who moved to Alaska to work on a fishing boat. You have to be of hardy stock to be in that line of work!

Update:

Lori and I successfully rendezvoused at the Anchorage airport and made our way to a nearby hotel which is right next to a lake where the pontoon planes land. The realtor met up with us and showed us 7 houses. A good start with more to follow tomorrow. The view of the majestic snow capped mountains surrounding Anchorage from the airplane on its descent was so spectacular that I’m making sure that Lori finds a house with at least one guest room!