Snow

It snowed on me last night.  The flakes were small, and floated down through the dark sky like motes of dust.  I was reminded of scenes from movies like Volcano, where cinders float through the air, surprisingly ... but snow it was.  I have never been snowed on before, and have only seen the snow twice before in my life, and both times it was seeing this thick heavy dirt ice that was unpleasant and unrewarding.

Right.  So fairly obviously I've arrived in Anchorage.  The snow scene I just painted was our tired arrival, at midnight (and four am our time, if you count Atantan time ours by now).  We trooped out the airport doors after having called the Ramada Hotel who had informed us they would collect us in half an hour, and were instantly struck by the cold.  Real cold.  Breath freezing cold.  Then the snow.  In the gutters, on the road, swirling in the air, and hanging from the trees, causing the branches to droop and appear to be painted as part of a Christmas picture.  It was superb.  Absolutely beautiful.

The Ramada bus arrived to pick us up, and this strange girl came along too.  We think there was probably something wrong with her, but we weren't / aren't sure.  She was dressed nicely enough, and had a bag as though she might have traveled from the airport, but she spoke somewhat disjointedly, and came to the hotel although she had no booking.  Her sentences appeared to be grammatically correct, but didn't really connect properly with what we were talking about.  It was rather strange, and Adam and Amanda were especially happy to escape her into our room.  Thankfully that was the last we saw of her ... she was disappearing as she walked up the stairs past us heading towards other rooms that weren't her .. well ... at least she could only annoy people that weren't us, and while I felt sorry for those people (whoever they turned out to be), in the state of tiredness I was in I preferred passing the buck to someone else.

The Ramada Hotel is astonishingly good value, at least when you come as a crazy off-peak tourist in the middle of winter, or just leaving winter or whatever is happening time-wise here.  Considering how my body clock has entered a state of complete delusion, I wouldn't believe anything I think or say regarding time zones or weather.  But I can be absolute on the value of this excellent hotel.  It is much better than the where we stayed in Atlanta, with nice service at the desk, and two queen beds in a large room that has a separate toilet and shower area that is also of a good size.  There's a fridge (which we didn't get last time which was frustrating), and an effective heater.  If it weren't, I guess we'd die, so they have to make sure the heating unit works, but it does, and it works well.  Everything is clean and pleasant and it's all just ... good.  It's costing us four hundred dollars for six days for the three of us, which is ... simply excellent.  I find it hard to believe how good.

In the morning, after I at least managed to sleep from two am to seven thirty am effectively, we went down to the free breakfast, which also turned out to be lovely.  There is a roaring (if fake) fireplace in the main dining area, which gives out plenty of heat, and several couches and a set of shiny and nice tables and chairs set around the kitchen.  On nice tables are cute little breakfast trays, some with boiled eggs, some with cereal, others with waffle mixture (and a waffle machine next to it, of course), a coffee dispenser and so on.  Not masses and masses, but certainly enough to feel like a good layout of food, and considering it's part of that four hundred dollars it seems just excellent value.

After breakfast we collected a dozen of the pamphlets in the hotel foyer and went through their tourist offerings, trying to work out what we could fit in over the three or four days we have (I have only three full days after today, Adam and Amanda four).  I decided I absolutely wanted to go dog sledding and snow mobiling, and anything on top of that I would consider a bonus.  We have no phone, and didn't know anything about the layout of Anchorage, so we found the tourist information centre on the town map (another leaflet we picked up downstairs - oh yes, downstairs, we're on the second floor of the hotel, and I think there are three levels, although I haven't gone up or even checked to see if there are), put on our warmest clothes, and stepped outside.

Yes, it was cold.  Our breath was instantly frosting in front of us, and I was very glad for my silly beanie that threatens to fall down and cover my entire face.  My goodness Alaska is beautiful.  The clean horizons, the mountains in the distance, the white brilliance of snow all around us ... wow, and wow again.  It's breathtaking (physically too.  It's so cold you can feel the cold air aching deep inside your lungs) and just so beautiful.  I already yearned to reach the mountains I could see in the distance, but regretfully I just don't have the time this trip, and it's not the weather for it.  This trip already has informed me that I will be returning, though.  Oh I sure will!  So far everything about this place is so clear and sweet and beautiful, and I'm going to see so little of it.

We found the tourist centre easily, because the streets are named as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on, crossing a, b, c, d, etc.  It makes navigating really simple for people like us who haven't been here before.  The lady who served us, I've forgotten her name, was really friendly, and went out of her way to help us.  Unless she had some fiendish deal with many guides, she really went out of her way, calling lots of different people to find out what we could do, how much it would cost, and where we could go.
The upshot of it all is that tomorrow we are all spending the day dog sledding, which I am so looking forward to, with a young couple who live in a yurt and who have a mass of dog puppies and of course many many husky dogs that will be dragging us around.  Then on Sunday (our Sunday - it's Friday for us right now, the evening of) I will be going snow mobiling on my own on Sunday.  This was difficult to organise, because the main "hardcore" zone that I can travel to has been closed off at the moment, and the lady was suggesting I go on a three hour trip where you go out to a gold mine and then eat reindeer over lunch and then head back.  It was not very tasteful to me, and she could tell, so after a lot of ringing around there is a much better and tougher ride for me, without any killing and eating of the local fauna. Nice.

We wandered around town after that, taking in the sights, and taking photos.  I bought a five dollar long sleeve top that I have to find room for in my little tiny pack when I come back.  We found an outside ice skating rink, but unfortunately couldn't find anywhere to hire skates.  Amanda is going to look into that for when I'm free on Monday, and I'm looking forward to that, too :).

We went to the supermarket and bought some bread and a few other essentials so we don't have to eat out too much.

On the walk back, we stopped at a pub / restaurant called "The Brew House".  A rough / cool place with in your face homestead style decor, that is way cooler and yuppie than it looks on first appearance.  I actually really liked it, and Amanda and I had a Canadian club, because I insisted it was important here in Alaska, which is as close to the Canadian Club ads as I may ever get.  It was really good.

 We've wandered back out to a cafe called Kaladi, which is a laid back and pleasant place, with decent coffee (I haven't found more than decent in America so far, and suspect I won't).

So, our first day in Anchorage.  A nice one.  Hellos out to everyone, and I'll report back on how dog sledding is tomorrow evening.  Until then, good evening all!

Pics from Anchorage