Learning the Lindy and other Alaskan Spring Break Adventures

OK so I took a vacation. The end. Oh wait you would like some details? Ohh alright.... :)

Well I was given a pretty short notice about having time off....don't get me wrong I love my family and I love the idea of having time off. But you have to realize I live in a very sleepy town that is pretty much in hibernation until the summer. So spending an entire week here was out of the question. Also going going anywhere was also out of the question. Well I put my little noggin to work and formulated a plan. Monday through Wednesday I would spend in Homer. Thursday I had a docs appt and then would cook up some ready to go meals. Then Friday through Sunday I would go up to Anchorage. I don't usually get butterflies about trips but I was giddy to leave.

The drive up down to Homer was gorgeous, mountains peeking out from behind the trees and tiny ramshackle cottages along the road. I got there a little earlier than planned so I drove around the tiny town aimlessly and took a few shots. I was early for my...massage. Yup, I treated myself to a massage. In Homer there is this long stretch of road called the 'spit'. It juts out into the harbor and in surrounded by all the fishermen's boats and all along the road are little shops and restaurants. Since I came in the off season most everything was boarded up. The Lands End hotel sits on the very end of the road and inside is a wonderful spa where the gorgeous water surrounds you. The massage was sensual and relaxing and just what my sore body needed.

The Driftwood Inn where I was staying was located in the older part of town, where things were actually open. I was a short hop and a skip away from the beach, shops and restaurants. For dinner I walked down the road to Fat Olives and had a huge veggie salad and bowl of warm soup and then treated myself to chocolate cake. After tucking my left overs away I called my Papa Bear and walked over to the beach to enjoy the sunset.

The next morning peeling back the curtains, my windows had iced over and the sky was gloomy like a bowl of mushroom soup. I lounged about in my warm covers like a soggy potato not wanting to move. I finally did drag myself up and out and over to the Two Sisters bakery where I brought back to my room a warm sticky caramel roll and cold apple juice.

After indulging like royalty I drove up the road up onto to the bluff to enjoy the foggy scenery. I was also planning on finding a hiking spot but the nature center was buried so high in snow I could barely find the entrance. So,I settled for taking some pictures and driving aimlessly. Back on the mainland I perused the little shops that sold high end winter gear, jams and jellies, fudge and more moose paraphernalia than I can count.

My belly was rumbling so I walked over to Maura's for warm soup and a cold veggie sandwich. I walked around town some more, visiting consignment shops, getting nasty looks from book store owners and chatting with a nice docent at the Island visitors center. The center has a couple of trails and they connect to the beach near my hotel. So I walked off on what was suppose to be a pier across the frozen tundra and back up the road to my room.

So there's this famous saloon on the spit called the Salty dog that apparently anyone who is visiting Homer has to visit. Well my friend B isn't 21 yet so I figured if we ever come back I won't have a chance to see what all the fuss is about. So there I was the only girl in a dim bar surrounded by big burly fishermen. Internally I was laughing hysterically at the sight of us. This out of towner kept peppering me with questions in the "I'm trying to be nice and make small talk" way. Michael texted me and gave me a reason to head home for a skype chat.

The following morning the sky was no clearer than the day before but I dragged myself out of bed, zipped up the suitcases and checked out of the historic little Inn. I wrote in my journal, surrounded by damp air in the bakery, nibbling on a muffin and listening to the conversations taking place around me.

I drove back up the bluff to the nature center and met up with a grad student, a wiry older woman and our hiking guide for a snow shoe hike. Well, let me just tell you that there was more than five feet of compacted snow under our feet. Signs that are normally at your eye level I was now peering down upon. I kept telling my lungs and my legs to hold strong and they didn't fail me. I'm super glad I was with a guide because the few trails that were marked out were barely visible and we had to fight like jungle ninjas through all of the branches that kept smacking our cheeks. We finally made it to some old cabins that had seen better days.
Snapshots taken,deep breaths inhaled and we were back to the beginning.

Being a smart cookie like I am I found that the Pratt museum was open for free that day. The little building was chalk filled with stories of Alaskan homesteaders, I even found one with Michael's last name on an original map. My favorite was flipping through the photo albums of the pictures from the early 1900's. The nice docent from yesterday was sitting in a downstairs room with some fish tanks and I was really only half listening as she rattled off the names of all the different species. The following room had a huge exhibit of the Exxon Valdez spill from the late 80's/early 90's. The photography is what amazed me the most. I stopped at the Cosmic kitchen to fill my falafel quota and feeling perky, headed home.

Well, you already heard about the disaster that was Thursday. The horrible diagnosis at the doctors office and the being rescued by the state trooper after being locked out. Well, after that misfire I was pretty determined to stay home and sulk. Thankfully I have some awesome friends who convinced me to go out and live. So, I booked my hotel in down town Anchorage despite the bad reviews and convinced myself this was the right decision.

See, in Alaska going anywhere between towns isn't exactly rocket science. There's pretty much just one road to take and you just have to watch for a T intersection to stay on that same road and then be careful of mountain goats, bears, avalanches and falling rocks. After the driving record I'd had being the passenger with D and our heart stopping snowy adventure I was more than nervous about making the trek through the mountains by myself for the the first time.



It was the opposite of problematic. It was sunny and gorgeous and the mountains glimmered in every which direction. The problem came when I got into town and got turned around for a good hour. I seriously blame the google map directions and all of the one way streets in Anchorage. I don't know what all the fuss was about. The hotel that I was staying at was perfectly fine. The parking was a little annoying but the accommodations were just fine.

I was going to meet a friend at a dance lesson when I panicked that I didn't have any good flat shoes with me. Apparently not having had a social life for the past 5 months and living in cold weather convinced me that all I needed was my boots and hiking shoes. So I sped walked like a mad man to the mall up the road and raced through Payless trying to find shoes. Now, my friend Julie who has endured shoe shopping with me will tell you I'm not easy to please in terms of foot fashion. But darn it all, I found shoes, paid and hoofed it home in about 20 minutes flat.

The dance lesson was such a blast. We learned the swing style of the Lindy Hop. Now, mind you I have two left feet but even this clumsy goofy ball made it through the steps. We stood in a big circle and after learning the moves the guys rotated around and we swung to the music. The lesson was over and it was time to dance. Or in my case stand around awkwardly. A couple of nice guys asked for my hand to dance and we stood off to the side and bee bopped to the tunes. My friend showed me some moves and gave me a spin around the dance floor. Afterwards we headed over to Mad Myrna's for a drag show. And not the kind with tractors. I may be offending someone when I say this but guys in drag can be sooo damn hot.

Anyhoo the next day I didn't leave my bed until 1 p.m. And it was F A B U L O U S.

I drove over to Earthquake park to learn about the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake that ravaged Alaska. I took a brief hike and snapped some shots before I began to freeze and headed back for the down town museum.

So I probably shouldn't admit this here but I still have my NIU card and totally used it to get a discount at the museum. (In all fairness I put the difference in the coffer at church the next morning.) It was a four story building with rooms with gorgeous paintings of Mt. McKinley, photographs of Indian tribes and their costume dresses, exhibits of life in Alaska, paintings by hikers who can obviously paint and summit at the same time, blown glass and videos of Alaskan native tribes.

My favorite by far and away was called, AFTER. It was done by a photographer who captured images of mountaineers after completing their summit. The stark white background so beautifully captured the raw pain in their eyes and the sore chapped lips and cheeks. It was a look at pure human emotion, unfiltered, raw and in a way hauntingly beautiful.

After the museum I wandered around downtown and checked out a little St. Patricks day bazzar, called my Papa bear and then became a dreaded mall rat. Y'know it's kinda funny how people don't really notice me, I sort fade into the background. Which is great because I can sit back comfortably and do a great deal of people watching. There was the typical teenager posse, the way too young teen parents, old folks getting their excerise, the man weariing Prada looking too nice to be here and the mom trottnig behind her teenage sons so they can look somewhat cool even though mom is holding the purse strings and all the bags. I indulged in the necessary mall food of a pretzel and fruit smoothie and bought a steal of a white sweater.

I wore said sweater out to Taproot. A local bar/hang out for bands and the like. My friend invited me out to hear his friends band play. It was a gypsy rock sort of show. It was good music just didn't fit in the mood of the drunk St. Patty's day crowd. I ate a watery yet good thai style salad and then we split a heavenly piece of chocolate cake. Later an Irish band played and some local Irish school dancers performed to raucous cheers from the crowd. The music was finally blending in with it's audience.

My friend invited me to breakfast the next morning before we parted ways for our separate churches. We met at one of my favorite places to eat in Anchorage, the Middle Way Cafe. I enjoyed delicious vegan multigrain pancakes and fresh fruit. We read the news paper together then bid adieu and promised to see each other again soon.

I've visited a few Unitarian churches, a few in Illinois and one in North Carolina. Since I knew there was one in Anchorage I figured no better time than the present to go. It wasn't a traditional service. It was led by the lay leaders and the theme was poetry. They were all a little mixed up on the order of the service and several times audience members had to politely shout out where we were in the order of buisness. It had the traditional reading of annoucements, the lightining of the chalice and the introductory welcoming song. I internally groaned at the thought of 11 people reading poetry. You see Unitarians can be long winded. At the introduction of visitors portion I nervously spewed out that while I was living in Kenai I was really from Chicago. Everyone sorta ooed and then I sat down. The poetry turned out to be a lovely collection of self written and famous poet readings. I'm not an overly religious type but I do enjoy the sense of community and the moral teachings and philosophical thinkings.

After the service a nice gentlemen and his extremely well behaved two year old approached me. He was/is a psychiatrist at a local facility. He asked where I had stayed, I informed him, he asked what I was in Kenai for, I explained and then he asked if I'd be interested in coming back up some weekend to watch his kiddos for a few hours in exchange for staying at their place. Of course I said YES! I was thrilled. I know most people hate this saying but I'm a firm believer in things happening for a reason. I really am.

So, I drove back home with the gorgeous pearly white mountains glittering in all directions. Feeling happy and fulfilled..until the shock of reality set back in on Monday morning...but all in all one of the best springs breaks of my life. Truly.