sept 5 - 6, 2000
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| Drove down a long and bumpy dirt road to the glacier and set out to hike to the glacier. On the way I met this couple from Arizona; he'd been living here for the last few years and she was up to visit him. |  |
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south to seward
So 126 miles of mostly two-lane road later I pulled into Seward and Christo's Palace for lunch. Alaska is like other west coast cities in that restaurants - even cheesy diners - tend to offer more creative and healthier options than their east coast counterparts. And tacos. Always with the tacos. Taco stands abound in the gay bars and supermarkets so I guess tacos in all the restaurants and diners shouldn't surprise me. But something about ordering Mexican food in Alaska struck me as disquieting, so I stuck with standard diner fare which was unmemorable.
sept 5 - 6, 2000
A few hours south of Anchorage is the town of Seward (pronounced like sewered - I know, lovely) which is small and in itself unimpressive but a necessary gateway to the Kenai peninsula. Took the only road down there; surprisingly a state this size has only about five major roads which makes it next to impossible to get lost. For instance to get to Fairbanks from Anchorage drive downtown, turn right on Main Street, and stay on it for 358 miles. And you're in Fairbanks.
Drove down a long and bumpy dirt road to the glacier and set out to hike to the glacier. On the way I met this couple from Arizona; he'd been living here for the last few years and she was up to visit him.
We talked while walking, and he told me what it was like living here and how people deal with SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder - and how folks get through the winters. Here was an odd thing: I asked what brought him to Alaska in the first place and they kind of glanced at each other briefly and he replied, "Oh, I uh, had to leave town." yeah... answers like that are like big scary storm basement doors that should stay bolted shut and weighted down with lots of bricks.
We reached the glacier and walked around it and watched the glacier climbers hike up in their odd equipment as wildlife photographers and documentary makers drifted about. We took pictures and tasted the glacier (like a snoopy snow cone machine) and watched a dust storm blow across the mountain. We scrambled up and around the loose rocks piled about the sides of the glacier, took pictures of Japanese tourists with their cameras then laughed as we hurled the cameras into the rushing icy waters that ran beneath the glacier and across the plain. OK we didn't really do the last thing but then again maybe we did and looking back I felt bad so I made it sound like maybe we didn't.
Woke up the next morning at 4 and couldn't fall asleep so I smoked and watched the beautiful, spooky Alaskan sunrise come up over the mountains until 6:30, when I left to meet the boat for the Kenai Fjords Tour. It was a six hour day cruise, the shorter of the two options that take you out into the Kenai Peninsula Glacier National Park. The ride is definitely worth it though you leave really early and it's really fucking cold. People who didn't come prepared with layers of thermals spent most of the trip inside and at least one woman got really seasick. And I laughed and laughed...
It's worth it to spend a few hours on a boat when you get to see otter, orca, gray whales, jellyfish, dall sheep (a kind of Alaskan mountain goat), golden eagles, bald eagles, puffins, sea lions, and dolphins, not to mention getting really close to the ocean side of the glacier where huge chunks of ice snap off with a sound like gun shots and crash into the icy waters.
Next: the long drive through the Alaskan Interior