Anchorage

Aug 11,

Sorry for the crazy spacing in the last few entries. I’ll try not to do that again! I thought I could edit it, but I was afraid I would do something wrong and erase what I had written. Usually when I am writing this, I am in a rush. We have so much to do and see that we really try to be quick.

This morning we left Sutton where we stayed last night and drove to Palmer, right in the Matanuska Valley. We stopped at a marvelous museum which has a great deal of information about the Athabascan Native People. I hope I can remember half of what I am learning.
In addition to the information about the native population, the museum has an film about an experiment here in the 1930s when Franklin Roosevelt was President. This experiment was created to help American families who were suffering during the Depression. 203 families from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were selected to come to Alaska to carve out the wilderness, make farms and settle the Valley. These folks had to pay five dollars an acre for their land, but they had 30 years to pay their debt. They lived in tents during the first summer months; some lived in tents right into the winter. The government paid for their trip. If they didn’t feel up to the task, the government paid their way back home. Most of the families were young, industrious and sturdy so most stayed, but some left because the hardships were many.
It sounds as if it were an Animal Farm type project. The farmers were supposed to buy their goods from the government, abide by government housing codes, and couldn’t sell in a free market environment. Reminds me of The Jungle. Regardless, the project worked for the most part– partly since the growing season is 100 - 108 days with long hours of sunshine.

After we left the museum, we visited the Matanuska Valley Agricultural Showcase Gardens which, as you can imagine, offers gorgeous plants and flowers. The cone flowers are almost as tall as I am! My flower-loving friends and relatives ( who are many!) would love this.

Now Steve and I are in Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage. Here we don’t feel as if we are far from home except for the Chugach Mountains which border the city. When you look to the mountains, you know you aren’t in Maine. Anchorage has Home Depot, Applebees, Denny’s, Dairy Queen– you name it, they have it, too. It is quite different from the places we have been visiting for the last two weeks.( It is hard to believe, but we have been gone for two weeks!)

Up till now, except for the occasional warm day, our weather has been cool, but today the temperature was 72. Since we aren’t planning on swimming or sitting on a beach, this is fine with us!

Tonight Steve and I ate at Phyllis’s Café and Salmon Bake in downtown Anchorage. We sat outside under an umbrella on the patio. Even though it was 8:30, we wore our sunglasses! Oh, I bet you know what I had for supper....

Aug 12,

This morning we toured about Anchorage. It’s a good sized city – population about 284,000.We stopped in a few shops and then stopped for coffee and a muffin. We ate outside where we watched the people fishing for salmon. How cool – people fishing just a quarter of a mile from the main street of the city!

This afternoon, we went to a Sled Dog Rodeo which might sound like a foolish way to spend the afternoon, but it was fun!

The young woman who is the host is married to Dallas Seavey who is an Iditarod champian. He is also the son of Mitch Seavey, a winner of the race and the grandson of one of the men who started the annual race in 1973.

Dallas’s grandfather saw that snowmobiles were becoming popular and was worried that the sport of racing sled dogs would fall by the wayside. It seems that the Seavey family has mushing in their blood.

We learned today that women have done well in this 1,000 mile race that takes anywhere from 9 to 17 days to complete. One of the young women in today’s show, Hanna Summers from Georgia, is now an Alaskan musher but is too young to compete in the Iditarod. We’ll have to watch for her name in future races! Maybe this strong, athletic, strong, beautiful girl will be a winner! ( For LRHS folks, she is a dead ringer for Sam Allen!)

The history behind the Sled Dog Rodeo? The Seavey family has to feed their dogs; that takes money. Dallas went to one of those jousting medieval shows in Florida and figured they could do the same thing with their dogs in Anchorage so he and his wife put the show together. Turns out, he and his wife are hams. They have the audience cheering for two competing teams – the men against the women. One team is driven by Dallas Seavey; the other is driven by Hannah Summers. Comedy ensues.

When we had dinner last night, we saw where the Iditarod starts right in the middle of the city! They bring in snow and dump it on the streets for the race. The hotels and restaurants are full for the event just as they are in Quebec for their winter carnival. The crowds line the streets cheering on the dogs. The fire siren screams as the dogs head out for Front Street in Nome. I bet that is something to see.