The Treacherous Road to Wasilla and Anchorage

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AISES, Alaska, Alehouse, Anchorage, beer, Case Western, Denali, Denali National Park, Denver, Fairbanks, flight, goodbye, hiking, Last Frontier Brewing Company, lyrics, Mt. McKinley, Native American, park, Red, Sarah Palin, snow, solo travel, student, Talkeetna, Taylor Swift, Ted Stevens Airport, tour, treacherous, Wal-Mart, Wasilla

I plowed my way south for about five hours.  I was thrilled to have seen Denali in the morning light, and now I was privileged enough to see the sun set beside it as well.  I stopped for some panoramic shots as well as a cup of coffee to go at The Longhorn Saloon in Cantwell!  Cantwell was a quiet, small town alongside some railroad tracks, a few miles from the main drag.  Inside were two old guys who were chatting over coffee and watching TV.  I don’t think I was an expected type to visit, but the one guy got up and poured me a warm Styrofoam cup for less than a dollar upon request.

I drove, took pictures, drove some more.  I came up on a red truck and passed it.  Another solo woman!  I pulled over and took more pictures and she passed me.  I got back on the road and passed her again.  Later, at a beautiful sightseeing location for the Denali range, I pulled over and hiked to a high point to take photos.  I turned around to find the woman pulling in.  She hiked up beside me and took pictures as well.  Neither of us said anything.  When it was time to go, we both turned to our cars.  She waited for a few minutes while I got in mine and took off before she followed.  I think we both knew I would end up passing her and our game of tag was becoming a little annoying, although funny.

Before I knew it, I had passed the exit for Talkeetna and was swiftly approaching Wasilla.  I stopped at Fishers Fuel and caught sight of a place called the Last Frontier Brewing Company.  I went there for a fish meal and beer.  Local brews, just like I like it!  I had eaten and drank my way through Alaska, but, looking around at the locals, I felt like I had had the real experience.  Then my mind raced back to the fact that I was in Wasilla, Sarah Palin’s very own!  I wondered if I could find where she lived… Sure enough, a Google search proved fruitful.  I typed in the address and realized it was just up the road, where I had just passed.  I paid my bill and took off towards the Palin’s.  I found the driveway and took a picture of the classic road sign in front.  I couldn’t exactly see anything, but I was satisfied.  It was enough for me.  I decided to stop off at a Wal-Mart for a CD to take me the rest of the way into Anchorage.

Sign outside of Sarah Palin’s house.

I would have stopped sooner, but this Wasilla Wal-Mart had been the closest to me on my entire trip north.  My mom got a kick out of my text earlier in the day, when I said “I’m in Healy and the closest Wal-Mart is 117 to Fairbanks or 209 to Wasilla!”  When distances are hard to describe, the amount of hours to the nearest Wal-Mart seems to put remoteness into perspective for most people.  I bought three things at the Wal-Mart: a Taylor Swift CD, an Alaska flag (which I love), and black leggings.  The last item seems bizarre, but let me explain… I had been looking for black leggings in a size small for months and every store in Cleveland was wiped out!  Here, they had plenty, so it was an obvious buy!

I blasted my new CD on the way back to Anchorage.  I have a thing about trips.  I always try to pick a song that, no matter how many times I hear it, will always take me back to a trip, to a place, to a group of friends, to a particular night.  Gangnam Style had become the hit of the Boeing party, a good reminder of the AISES Conference and how much fun I’d had with my Hawai’ian friends.  But my trip up north?  I immediately found my hit: Treacherous.

This slope is treacherous
This path is reckless
This slope is treacherous
But I, I, I, I like it… 

Two headlights shine through the sleepless night and I will
Get you a-, get you alone
Your name has echoed through my mind and I just
Think you should, think you should know
That nothing safe is worth the drive and I will
Follow you, follow you home
I’ll follow you, follow you home…

And it was true.  Nothing safe is worth the drive, at least not one like what I did today!  The more treacherous, the more thrilling, and I now knew that first hand.  Thank you, Taylor Swift, for forever establishing these memories.

As my goodbye to Alaska, I decided to stop in the parking lot of the hockey rink and pack my bags.  It only seemed fitting.  Hockey.  I threw my stuff in the bed and, while the album kept spinning, I rolled my sleeping back and repacked my clothes and poster.  When the time came, I sadly got back in and waved goodbye.  I drove to the airport, left my truck, turned in my keys because it was past hour, then slipped into the airport to check in.

Geese flying through the terminal.

I settled in at a bar and had my final local brew.  As the time ticked away, I realized how fond I had become of Alaska.  I was sad to say goodbye to the city, the state, and the conference, but it was time.  At around midnight, I was boarding my plane and saying my final goodbyes from the sky.  I was absolutely exhausted, but proud of myself nonetheless.  It was a long day.  I slept almost the whole way to Denver, thoroughly worn out.  Regardless, I felt like a real, tired, and gruff Alaskan outdoorswoman.

Halloween in Anchorage

Tags

AISES, Alaska, Alehouse, Anchorage, beer, Case Western, Halloween, Humpy's, Native American, solo travel, student

Back at the hostel, I pulled out my last-minute cat costume: a headband with paper ears, a grey tank top, a black cardigan, and stretchy black tights – easy to roll up tightly and in need of having a reason to be worn.  The outfit went well even with my big leather boots and long, black coat.  I didn’t have a tail, but I decided to kick it as a Manx for the night.  Besides, the cat ears said everything.  Oh, I also drew on a Sharpie nose and whiskers, then tucked in my green scarf and called a cab.  The ride was farther than I realized and the cab was unfortunately expensive, but I got to see the sights on the way.

At the zoo, the lights were mostly out apart from winter decorations, like a musher and his dogs outlined in Christmas lights along one trail.  “Mush,” I thought, “Comes from ‘Marche!’”  I somehow recalled, from 6^th grade French, the origin of the word.  Now, here I was, standing in a city which hosts a piece of the Iditarod.  Crazy.

The zoo was busy.  There were kids everywhere.  I knew it was mostly for the kids… but I wanted to see Alaska animals in the snow at night.  Josh joked they’d be doing what all animals do at night – sleeping!  He was a little right.  But the eagles were alive and the owls were elusively dodging glances at passersby.  There were tigers, true, but there were also muskoxen and polar bears, lounging in the snow and laughing at our down jackets.  I began to feel a pang of guilt and sorrow for polar bears in any other zoo, forced to face the heat.  Birds are always my favorite, but I also have a weakness for little foxes.  I could see some pacing in the rehab center.  Images of the Redwall stories came to mind as I envisioned just what those foxes would say if they spoke English.

Polar bear sleeping to the left side.

Just watching the kids gawk and squeal at the animals in the dark was a treat in itself.  They indulged in buckets of candies and hid behind their mothers as they pointed out, “Look at the kitty!” and I smiled and waved.  One boy, a knight, dared to talk to me.  I asked him if he had a horse.  He told me he did.  I asked what color it is and, probably not being able to decide, he told me it was a rainbow horse.  I told him that I may be a cat, but I love riding horses.  He laughed and ran to get more candy.  I indulged in a pastry and hot coffee, then waited for my cab to come as the temperature threatened to tick below the zero line.

My cab came and I texted my friends to find their location.  After a few minutes of being at my hostel, I was heading back out again.  Anchorage isn’t exactly dangerous, but I did pass down some streets that made wearing a tight Halloween costume as a lone young woman feel somewhat intimidating.  Nonetheless, I zigzagged through gangs of people and arrived safely at Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse.

There were costumes everywhere.  I joined Josh and his cousin, Dean, at a table.  I ordered salmon chowder, stout and, eventually, my first room-temperature, classic Cask Ale.  Josh and Dean didn’t wear their costumes.  The rest of the Menominee group showed up and expressed their disappointment.  An announcement was made that a costume contest would soon begin, so I convinced them to run back and change.  They did.

Josh and Dean left, and in their place came the Blues Brothers.  Josh was frustrated he had brought the wrong tie and it didn’t match, but their costumes were winning people over right and left.  They convinced me to join the contest with them.  We were paraded around the bar with the rest of the people competing.  Costumes ranged from realistic, to silly, to provocative.  Then we stood on the dance floor as each was called to stage.  Josh and Dean made their poses and everyone cheered.  I was never called and Josh complained, but I think the announcer was a little tipsy so I waved it off.  That’s when we went back to our seats and Josh lost it.

“Someone ate my filet!” he gestured angrily at his dinner plate.  He had hardly had a bite, and someone had eaten his fancy fish.  He reached for his beer.  “And they drank my beer!!”  I was perplexed.  Dean and I looked around at our things, but they were left untouched.  “I swear, I saw some girl stuffing something in her face just a minute ago…” Josh looked around hastily, then pointed to a sloppy character coming towards us.  “Her!”  The girl joined the table beside us where all of her friends were as equally drunk and slap-happy.  She tripped backwards a little and placed her beer on our table.  Josh became cross.  I was ready to say something when a guy in a superman costume approached me.  “Hey, kitty, kitty…” he began, followed by a slew of inappropriate comments.  I laughed, rolled my eyes, and turned around, not wanting to put up with it and not wanting to cause a scene.  His attention span was short enough that he vanished, and our focus returned to the dinner.  The girl was still tripping over things behind us.

I was impressed by Josh’s coolness as he explained to the waiter the situation.  A new dinner was presented at no cost.  Reflections on alcoholism crept back into our conversation for a few minutes before running back out.  I opened up a little about my own family problems, and Josh was touched by how we could all spill such dark stories.  We looked back over at the table behind us with disapproving frowns.  Alcohol, a treat and yet a curse.  We dismissed our distractions and focused on enjoying the rest of our night.  I walked the mile back alone and satisfied that I had gotten to enjoy Halloween after all.

Getting into bed, I reveled at the thought that today really was just one day.  It felt like a week of adventure.  This is what it’s like to live.