I first decided to take a trip to research a novel I'm writing, but I think it'll prove educational in more ways than that. Having no love, no job (aside from writing), and no cat, I figured I had nothing left to lose by taking a considerable amount of time to travel. This is the beginning of arctic winter, and most people would think me mad for choosing this place at this time, so bound by not only cold, but darkness as well, but I had to. I've been to Anchorage and the Panhandle in the summer; to really know Alaska, you must see her in the winter, when the sun only glances sidelong upon the earth for a few hours a day. My protagonist knows this winter, as well as the winter of the mind; I have yet to truly, deeply experience the former.
I arrived in Anchorage two days ago. The flight was mostly uneventful; a crying baby on the flight from Seattle to Anchorage made me remember why I was totally onboard with the idea of kid-free flights (what happened to that, anyway?). No one should have to listen to your little shit scream for three and a half hours. I said good-bye to the hedonistic, superficial, overgrown city of San Jose, full of reminders and half-admitted longings, and arrived six hours later in the Last Frontier. I haven't had much time to really get to know the city; hunting for the cable I forgot that connects my camera to my laptop took quite a bit of time, as well as finding the books I need to be reading for my study in the Stonecoast program at USM. I admit, I should have gotten them while I was still in San Jose, but I procrastinated just one day too long, and the library didn't get them in in time for me. Lesson learnt (not really, but I like to think so).
One thing that really bugged me though was the issue that I'd be missing the festivities surrounding the World Series. From what I hear, a lot of partying went down, as well as the ticker tape parade in San Fran. I totally wish I had been there. Honestly, if I had known the Giants were even going to be in the Series when I booked this trip, I would have postponed it. As it was, I ended up going to a bar called Mad Myrna's here in Anchorage where they were playing the last game. It felt a little odd to be the only one whooping and yelling, but I think they forgave me. Some were former San Francisco residents, as it turned out, and so were rooting the Giants on as well, but just weren't all that into baseball. I think now that that's over, I'm going to miss baseball season, but I can focus more energy on doing things here, than on worrying whether my team is going to score enough runs.
I admit I have zero experience blogging. I don't like to talk about myself that much, and I don't follow anyone's blog with any regularity. I'm only keeping this thing up to let my friends know what's going on up here, and if it attracts any other visitors, well, I guess that's okay too. Come on in and sit a while. I'll try not to bore you.
The always sunny and cheerful Seattle.
Entering Turnagain Arm
Cool house on a corner with two of my favorite things, a cello and a wolf, on its side.
Kelly, as a parent who is about to take my kids on an another air adventure, your post made me wince, but, honestly, a lot of child-related activities lead to either embarrassment or a hard-won ability to just let it go. I've learned to act like the Friday night frat-boy drunk, and pretend we all don't remember in the morning. And I, for one, am interested in the blogging of a blogging unenthusiast. I'm anticipating more of Jack London's Alaska and less "person positioning" of your "public image." If nothing else, it's a real-time experiment in "method" writing. (Much like this post is a real-time experiment in the excessive use of double quotes.)
ReplyDelete-Julie