First Weekend in Anchorage

 I had two long days before starting my new job and I decided to put that time to good use to get my bearings and soak in the feel of the city.

Saturday fun
The first thing I saw as I got out of my hotel was a large mountain chain towering over the city in a clear blue sky.  It was true: wilderness is right at Anchorage's door steps. Driving around for only a few minutes also made the word "city" sound like an overstatement as I felt I was in a large town more than a metropolitan area. I drove through the tiny downtown (about 10x20 blocks) and bumped into a stunning view on a large expense of mud flats with in the background some enormous snow covered peaks that turned out to be the Alaska range.  This was a strange sight: the smell of the sea made the mountains seem out of place and the fact that a 180 turn on my heels had me face the skyscrapers of downtown Anchorage was also very peculiar.

View on the Alaska Range, two minutes from downtown.

 Later on, a lazy stroll took me from one surprise to the other:

• Chocolate covered bacon, 
• Hand-made knives, especially the famous Alaskan Ulu
• Fur stores everywhere 
• Easy access to fire arms
• Reindeer sausage
• People wearing flip-flops and tank-top in 60 degrees F (about 15 C)
• Overheard in the street: "Woow! It is so warm today!" while I was zipping up my light down jacket.
• A woman mauled by a bear in town a few days ago on her morning jog
• Camping in town?!?
• ...etc.

 So yes, this place is different, to say the least.

Oh! And you can camp in town here!



Mural about the Iditarod

I also noticed an obvious Alaskan pride and a slight rivalry between Alaska and Texas that made me smile.

In the evening. I drove about 20 min South of town to see the bore tide (one of the largest in the world), a huge wave or series of waves that advance down Turnagain Arm in a wall of water up to 10-feet high (It was far from being that big on Saturday). The wave can also reach speeds of 10 to 15 miles per hour. It takes not just a low tide but almost a 30-foot tidal differential (between high and low tide) for a bore to form in Turnagain Arm.  Lucky me, on Saturday, the tide had the largest differential it had had in weeks and also the largest it would have until the end of June.  So I could not miss the opportunity to witness this great natural phenomenon.




Mark my words: this time, I saw the tidal bore from shore but soon enough I will see it from my kayak, hopefully in a 3-mile/15 min-long surf.  I cannot wait!

Here is a video I found of the tidal bore here in Anchorage.




Tidal Bore from Bird Ridge

Sunday, house hunting

Strolling in the street of Anchorage was fun but I could not forget I had two weeks to find a place to stay and a car.  It was time to get down to business.  I spent hours on Craigslist in complete denial of what I was seeing... and that was on a computer screen.  I quickly realized that finding a decent place at a decent price was going to be challenging.

Visiting a few apartments confirmed my fears. I found a lot of overpriced run down, crappy, dirty places in sketchy parts of town, starting to think that DC housing was not so expensive after all.  It was a bit tough to think that I had left a home I loved in Virginia to rent a dump that was going to cost me an arm and a leg.

Admittedly, by the end of the day on Sunday, I hit a little low.  But after thinking about it for a while, I decided to let go of my expectations and simply go with what was there, even if it meant spending more than I would have liked.  After all, here I was, in that remote place, far away from friends and family and not knowing anybody, so finding a place that would feel like home was rather crucial.  It was all going to be OK.