The Great Land

After about 2,500 miles of flying from San Diego-Seattle-Anchorage, I find myself in Anchorage, Alaska, this afternoon. We arrived at 1:30pm and depart at 00:50am (just after midnight) for Portland. It's a very short layover...or DAYover. I will be taking a little nap shortly (to ward off additional wrinkles) but wanted to pass along a few pics first. The sun will set tonight at 11:42pm and will only be down a few hours before it rises again at 04:21am....the sky will never actually get dark at this time of year. The flowers you see in the pics are dahlias and are in a park downtown. Everything up here grows quite large -- not because of the warmth or heat, but because of the length of the days...lots of light for growing. I just went on a little walk and happened to pass the Snow City Cafe.....if I'd had more time, I'd have stopped in. It looks very alternative-hippie-gay-etc....just my kind of place. Next trip, for sure. Anchorage is rough. Blue collar. Tough people who know how spend lots of time in the cold and snow. The oil conglomerates have made plenty of money off of this untamed wilderness. They sort of share it back each year in the form of the Alaska Permanent Fund -- a little payback to each eligible resident of the state for all of the money they are taking in here. The oil comes from the North Slope in places like Prudhoe Bay and flows through the Alaska pipeline down the port at Valdez where it is shipped away. Okay now, enough of me....enjoy the pics. And if you haven't been here, you owe it to yourself at least once in your life. Start your planning!