What you know about Alaska is wrong

That is, dear reader, if you are anything like yours truly, whose prior exposure to Alaska had been a few hours spent in the state capital slurping air terminal udon noodles on my way to or from Seoul, Korea. But even that is wrong, since the state capital is actually Juneau and not Anchorage.

It turns out that real people live in Alaska, and at least in Anchorage they do "normal" American things like working, going to the movies and getting groceries at giant supermarkets.

Alaska also has roads, though apparently not very many. The few that exist wind through a landscape larger and more jagged than this Mid-Atlantic East Coaster is used to.



After some time, even the Anchorage locals reveal themselves to be rugged frontierspeople under a thin cloak of civility. For example, a typical Alaskan hors d'oeuvres consists of a whole stuffed moose heart stitched up like a Victorian reanimation experiment and baked in the oven. Rumor is that they hunt these giant beasts on mountain bikes using fishing nets and a deadly gaze, but I did not witness the killing myself.





I should mention that the visit was centered around the wedding of Laura and Oscar, the former a good college friend of Ginna. The wedding was at Cooper Landing, a couple of hours south of Anchorage. I would post pictures of the wedding and all the wonderful people I met, but the event and its participants has been sufficiently documented elsewhere in these great InterWebs.



Laura and Oscar, along with their semi-tamed direwolf named Chino, hosted us. It may look docile in this photo, but I am told that it eats grizzly cubs for breakfast. Ginna looks blissfully unaware of any danger.



I hope this has been informative. Alaska is awesome.







Is that a heart emerging from the clouds? Alaska is full of love.



P.S. Yes, I have been gone awhile. No apologies. More to come.