Arctic mail

see all photos »

And we thought that Anchorage was just a couple of hours northwest of Boston. The flight took longer than a flight to Europe...and beautiful it was, we flew over at least twenty glaciers.

Anchorage was a very different first impression to Lewiston: truly beautiful. Yes, it was cold, still is. Yes, there was and is a lot of snow. Yes, the city itself is not the prettiest, a kind of dusty, sprawling L.A.-like frontier town (but then again it is only half a century that this was mainly a tent town). But what is around the city is just breathtaking. Hundreds of snow-covered mountains, glaciers, the ocean (and active volcanoes and earth quakes)...delicious salmon and seafood, microbreweries and seattle style coffee shops everywhere. Heaven! Even the people are nice. They are not suffocatingly nice, more in a pragmatic kind of way. Most people have had quite the journey. One of the psychiatrists at the hospital grew up in Indonesia, studied in Holland, lived all over the States and ended up staying here. He calls it a haven for the restless.

It is, though, kind of strange to live in city with only two roads, with essentially four destinations, leaving it.

Now, it, of course, has not all been perfect. We had to stay in a rather 'modest' (modest like in 'not even in Russia did we stay in such a bad place') hotel, moved to a one-bedroom appartment before finally moving to our two-bedroom with beautiful mountain view.

The neighbourhood is so great that even moose prefer it. The other day we had a young moose in our frontyard with it's mother and sibling close nearby. Now moose sound cute, but actually mother-moose are the biggest danger here, more dangerous that bears. And just in case you wondered: when meeting a bear, be 'human'. Don't run, put your backback above your head to appear taller. When the bear starts to charge, don't move, he or she will stop. If you really get attacked, play dead. Or so the books say.

There is much to do, but everything for a price. Milk is 4$ a gallon, but then again there is neither a sales nor a state income tax (which of course leaves the state with not a lot of money and that is why all Alaskans want more oil drilling in ANWR).

And best of all, Alaskans pronounce the 'r', no more Wahhhmahhht, it is back to Walmart.

We will be here in Alaska through November and we do have a guestroom and we do love guests: 1555 D Street #7 Anchorage, Ak 99501 907-278'6526