Mood: ‘Alaska and Me’ by John Denver
‘The Last Stop’
“It was on October the Fourth that the man came back at last to the town of Granite Falls, where stood the House of the Bradicombs. Again it was evening, his arms were tired, especially the one that carried the baggage; and all parts of him felt in need of rest. As he rode down the steep path to the Bradicombs , Bradimus heard the birds still singing in the trees, as if they had not stopped since he left; and as soon as he came down into the lower glades of the wood he burst into grand yawns into of much the same kind as would be expected of 14 hours of travel.”
~excerpt from the final chapter of ‘There and Back Again, A Bradimus Adventure’
The Trip
Not too be overly literary, but the trip was the best of times and the worst of times, though the best outweighed the worst by grand and copious amounts. The flight up to Anchorage, Alaska was mercifully short, at nine hours. Got in at About 8pm, met my good friend Randy and went immediately to the best (or one of the top 3) pizza restaurants in the USA:
Mooses Tooth Pub & Pizzeria, oh how I have missed you! If you have an inquisitive mind, please feel free to look them up on-line and view their menu; there is not one pizza I would turn down, but of course I have my favorites. As well, they brew their own beers, ales and brandy wines. I was so hungry and so glad to be in The Tooth once more, I only remembered to get one photo..
…a Carnivore pizza on top and a Mac ‘n Cheese on the bottom. Never had a Mac n’ Cheese pizza before, but as I said, there is not a bad pizza on their menu!
It was a heavy night of pizza and beer, and the first surprise meeting of friends not seen in over five years was set for late the next morning, and excitement, even after travel and 4 time zones to an earlier time than my body was used to, made sleep tough.
It all worked out well, though.
My RenFaire group, named The Wild Rovers, developed over almost 20 years, was a large part of my creative life. The core group at the end of that 20 years may have been the best.
A week before I traveled, i got in touch with one of the group who own an ice cream shop to quietly see about putting together a reunion meeting of sorts. Having kept a chat group going the whole time, I knew they really hadn’t kept up with the BBQ picnics and other gatherings we used to do, so suggested that she alone future it out, and keep my return out of it.
It worked wonderfully! I hid in the back until enough people showed up and then walked out as if I worked there. I wish I had thought it out better to get video or pictures of the faces (as would be the case throughout…)! It was worth the possibility that people just couldn’t be arsed to show or reschedule work to be there to keep it quiet and a surprise!
It was as if no time at all had passed after that. Except for five years of growing that the ‘Rover’ kids had!
That night, it was the last performance of the musical the the theater group I use to regularly act in. The founders, and also members of the cast in the show, have been damn-near lifelong friends, almost to the point of family. hell, they are family! We went to the performance and after the show it is the company’s tradition to go out to the lobby and see the audience out.
I caught them coming out the stage door in the theater before they went up the stairs to the lobby; the cries of ‘Oh my God!’, ‘Holy shit!’ ‘What are you doing here!?’ will happily ring in my ears, as well as the stunned looks on their faces will stay in my mind.
Finally, that night was one last ‘Holy shit!’ kind of surprise meeting, as one of the people who couldn’t show up to the ice cream shop because of work were going to meet up with us at an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was a very fulfilling and epic kind of day!
Storage Wars
The next day, Monday, it was time to tackle the impetus for the visit to Alaska: arrange the shipping of my remaining possessions in storage in Wasilla, about an hour’s drive north of Anchorage. I am not a rich person. When I moved out of Alaska, I could barely afford the vet for my cats and the gas and food and room and board (when I didn’t sleep in my car) to make it to North Carolina. I took roughly 800lbs of my belongings with me and the rest went into two storage units in, as stated, Wasilla, where I had been living for about 10 years.
Things have gone well since, but with the recent pandemic, the shutting down of most of the country, the ridiculous inflation and the supposed non-recession, a substantial loan was required to make this trip happen. The loan was based upon the recommendation of a family friend in Alaska who has been a small business professional mover for over four decades; he helped arrange my parents move out of Alaska to Tennessee some 14 years ago.
In fact, I sent him the spare set of keys I had for those storage units a few years ago so he could determine a rough estimate of tonnage, possible cost and such. As it happened, he made it out to Wasilla after the earthquake that hit the vicinity a few years ago, the one that wiped out a few of the roads out to and in Wasilla.
Fortunately, the roads were repaired quickly and a few months later that friend went out to look at the units. Only to discover the units wer almost perfectly parallel to waves of the quake and the boxes and totes inside were pushed against the doors of the units so that only one was able to be partially opened, but onlt a foot and a half or so. Not enough for him to make any estimates.
This turned out, in fact to be true. My friend Randy and I drove out that Monday not only to check the units out for myself but to get him on the peprwork to be allowed to access the units if this trip didn’t work out.
First, though, some pics of the drive to Wasilla. Apologies for the quality; these were taken through the windows of the Jeep.
As an aside, that is Fall in Alaska. The colors are never much more than is seen, maybe badly, in these shots. A few shades of yellow and orange with a little red hither and yon. The snow in the mountains was there for about a month, at this point, getting lower as the temperature descended at higher elevations. Anchorage and Wasilla have had snow on the ground for at least a week, now.
As it happened, the storage unit doors could not be opened and exactly as the friend had said. However, we did get Randy’s name on the paperwork, so that at least put my mind at ease.
We didn’t waste the time, though, and I visited a few old haunts in the vicinity, one of which was my favorite place to shop for provisions;
This place, not 3 miles from where I used to live, had a great meats section, was a full grocery store, but was also part Sam’s Club/Costco, carry some items in bulk.
But more on this later…
A few days later, we grabbed one of our friends, the only one available to return to the storage units in Wasilla, and try to get the doors open. As it happened, he was small enough to get under the door that we got opened almost two feet, and as the stacks were set back from the door he could get in. He saw that only one or two of the things on top had leaned up against the door, jamming when the roll at the top of the roll-up door was a larger diameter. He got them moved back and we were able to roll the door all the way up.
The other door took brawn to lift enough, but it was the same problem. On the whole, only a few of the boxes or totes had compacted over the year or due to the quake.
Basically, the battle of the storage units was done.
It’s Only Money. And You Don’t Have Enough!
This was the ‘bad’ of the trip.
My Mover Guy in Alaska had gotten so busy the last few weeks before I knew I was traveling back to Alaska that he couldn’t contact the companies he usually used to ship stuff out of Alaska. He was to find that all but one had taken their operations out of Alaska.
I was to find that the two companies I could get estimates from, one who we met back out at the storage units so he could get a visual idea, taking pictures and such, came back with estimates of $12-19,000!!!
Needless to say, my loan was not that large…
The last and lowest estimate came the day before I was to fly back to the East Coast and so would have been too short a time to make arrangements to ship, anyway.
My family friend Mover Guy was very apologetic, as he had not had to move anyone out of Alaska for at least a year before the pandemic hit, and had no idea those companies pulled out of Alaska or that shipping cost had, in his estimation QUADRUPLED!
Now, plans must change, of course. Shipping anything out this year is a total bust. I will have to plan ahead for friends to help, but I should be able to afford one or two U-Haul pods (depending on the worsening non-recession) to at least get my books and dishes and collectibles. The rest will be distributed among those friends who can help.
Unless things change…
We All Gotta Eat!
As one might expect, living in one place for 40 years one can find some of the best places to eat. Sure, they come and go, but there are always those few that just always seem to be there, right?
Well, there were a few that were no longer in business, the most disappointing of which was ‘The Bagel Deli’. It was off the main road through midtown Anchorage, and had the most wonderful…wait for it…bagels! They had all kinds of breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches and so many different kinds of bagels, as well. Suffice to say that, for a family that has had Sunday bagel breakfasts for many, many years as a tradition, we are pretty well acquainted with excellence in bagels, and this place did ‘em right!
I had planned on bringing a few dozen home but…😞
The other I could not dine at was only because of remodeling. This was the ‘Kobe Steakhouse’, a teppanyaki place that I enjoyed many a time with the best of company. But, once again…😞
Friday night I took my host (my friend Randy) out to a place we both very much enjoyed, but the drive to it south out of Anchorage made it a rare treat. Not this time!
‘The Double Musky Inn’ in Girdwood, Alaska. Closed during January and February so the owners can enjoy Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Of course, I was there in September, so the mastication of comestibles was ON!
Looking at that last picture, I am tickled to say that when we arrived, we were able to park just a little to the left of that car, right next to the entrance! Like it was meant to be! And I mean that! This is a place that opens at 4:30pm and gets very full very quickly. They take no reservations unless your are in a limousine, so if you are hungry, it is incumbent upon one to get there on time!
First, the ambience:
Next, the menu:
Then, the food:
My choice was the French Pepper Steak and that came with their jalapeño rolls.
Finally, dessert:
The Cajun Delight!
It is at this point that I realize I will have to break this up into two separate blogs! Hadn’t even realized the length of this right now nor the time on the clock, bigod!
Come back next week for the exciting(?) conclusion!
Be well and I bid you Peace!
