Tour of Southcentral

I had a nice little day yesterday in what ended up as a tour of Southcentral Ak. First stop was Wasilla/Palmer, "suburbs" of Anchorage that are about 45 minutes north of Anchorage, and then ended the day in Whittier, an isolated oceanside community a little over an hour south.

Now, I feel an obligation to say that I was a little prejudiced against my morning destination of The Valley (as it is called here because Palmer and Wasilla sit in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley that comes complete with big rivers and glaciers). This is because the Parks Highway, which connects Anchorage and Fairbanks, drives through Wasilla. Alongside the road in Wasilla is a mile or so of strip malls. In Oregon it is common for strip malls, fast food, or gas stations to litter the side of the freeway (note: freeway in OR; highway in AK), so I asked Greg a few years ago to drive through the city center. I just assumed that all small towns have a city center tucked away, even if they are not used often. Not here. Wasilla's center is the Parks Highway and the strip malls alongside the Parks. Well, this did not sit well with me. I was done with Wasilla. But I figured maybe Palmer was better...
Last summer Greg and I went to the Alaska State Fair - careful, don't blink! - which was supposedly in Palmer, but honest-to-goodness I couldn't find Palmer. I'm not just being cute. I asked Greg where we were as the train pulled away from the fair depot. He replied, "Palmer" to which I said, "I know, but where is downtown Palmer?" He pointed to the right and said, "right there." I saw, oh, maybe three or four buildings. "Really?" I said "That's it?" Greg looked at me like I was being difficult, but I wasn't. I was genuinely confused because all I had been hearing was how Palmer was growing and complaints that it is too populated and not like living in the country anymore. "Yep. It's cute, actually." I squinted but still felt I was missing something. [Let the record show that I now have glasses, so perhaps I just couldn't see very well.] The overriding point I am trying (perhaps unsuccessfully) to make is that after that I was done with Palmer, and that meant I was done with The Valley.

Fast forward to yesterday. I drove to Wasilla to Greg's uncle Chuck's house to visit with Greg's cousin Aaron, who doesn't drink coffee, only tea and is visiting from Chicago. I had a delightful time as he is utterly charming and would be my best friend in two seconds if he still lived here. But, he's not interested in moving back and leaves on a big plane tonight. sigh.

As I said, Chuck's house is in Wasilla, my opinion of which remains unchanged. But, Aaron and I drove to Palmer to have a cup of tea. We went into a charming coffee shop that I wish I would have taken a picture of. It was nothing special, really, but it had gold walls (not white!), was bustling with people sitting and talking over coffee, and they served good tea. We had a nice talk and I felt happy. On the way out the door we took a photo of a t-shirt that read "The DaVinci Cod" which is the top selling t-shirt of the summer. Check it out in Flickr on the right.

As we were driving from the coffee shop to Chuck's office a short distance away I peeked down the street. This is when I changed my opinion of Palmer. The main street of Palmer has slightly more buildings than I spotted last summer. It is kinda cute, actually - what I picture small town's central business district to look like. Unfortunately, most of the businesses in town are in strip malls on the road connecting Palmer and Wasilla, but that is really neither here nor there. What I am trying to say is that I kinda liked it in the thank-God-I-don't-live-here kinda way.

So, Chuck took Aaron and I out to lunch where we ran into - and I couldn't have made this up - Aaron's dentist growing up. You know, the one with the hook I mentioned in my inaugural post. I had Chuck take a photo of me with him in the background, but the chair was in the way so the photo didn't work and he refused to take another one because it was a small town and he was a friend, etc., which I totally respect.

I drove back into town and got to our house just as Greg got off work and we drove to his aunt's house where we met up with his aunt and grandparents. We all piled into the car to head to Whittier to have dinner with Greg's little bro, Tom, who is working on the Kenticott, a boat in the Alaska Marine Ferry System (or whatever it's called), and was docked in Whittier for the night. Now, Whittier may be the only place in Alaska that I like more than Greg does. He calls it the armpit of Alaska, a title which I think should be applied to Delta Junction, and calls those who live there Whittidiots. I, on the other hand, am kinda smitten with it. It it teeny-tiny, itty-bitty. There is a one lane tunnel that takes you three and a half miles through a mountain, but you can only come in or out once an hour. 95% of the city's population lives in Baggage Tower, a building built in WWII to house soldiers that now acts as condos, apartments, and the hotel. I am not sure where the other 5% live because I don't think I've seen any houses. Greg feels indifferent to negatively about the town because he has to work there quite frequently on the train and Whittier has weather. I'm talking WEATHER. It is in a bay, but it is shaped in such a way to funnel all the wind and rain from the ocean. It is also completely surrounded by mountains. These two facts explain why everyone lives in Baggage Tower - there's no land to build on. Look at an aerial view of the town on this website http://www.ci.whittier.ak.us/about.html or a local webcam at http://whittierak.yukontel.com/ .

Back to the story: The closer we traveled along the Seward Highway, the worse the weather got. We waited for the tunnel to open in our direction at a small gift shop (photos to the right) where we overheard a local man walking in that said "this is September weather. I think I'll have to make a fire tonight" to which the woman working at the desk said "yeah. We're supposed to get 80-90 mph winds." Since when is 80-90 mph winds September weather?

The dinner was fun and the restaurant was the epitome of a restaurant in an Alaskan fishing town. By the time we ventured back to Anchorage, we were all pretty tired.