When we were in college our favorite TV show was "Northern Exposure." (You can hear the theme song on my playlist if you want.) It was a really quirky show about Joel Fleishman, a New York doctor who is contractually bound to practice in remote Cicely, AK (a fictional town) for 4 years to repay his school loan from the state. The show's plot was centered on the differences between Joel's urban neuroses and the eccentricities of the residents of Cicely. I often wondered if Alaska was really like that. From what I could gather, life in Alaska is unique in and of itself. But Fairbanks (and I'm sure Anchorage) is pretty much like any town in the lower 48--Wal Mart, Old Navy, KFC, Taco Bell. However, our visit to Chitina (pronounced Chit-na) confirmed that there really are places like Cicely from "Northern Exposure!" Here are some shots of the local "color."
This building was actually occupied!
You can't really see it, but this truck had a bunch of antlers across the top rack--if you're in the market for Alaska Antler Art, call this guy.
Everyone must REALLY be into coffee in AK, because there are espresso stands everywhere (kinda like Snow Shacks or Rainbo Snow). This van was like an ice cream truck for coffee fanatics. It drove around our campsite several times a day.
My personal favorite . . . as you can see there is a lot of civic pride in this town.
The collapsed building in the background has a ghost painted on it. Dallin said some kids painted ghosts on a lot of the buildings back in the 70s as a practical joke, and many of them are still there. I guess this building hasn't seen a new coat of paint in a while!
This beaut was for rent. I was a little skeptical since the front grill was being held on with bungee cords--upside down.
We headed back to Paul's house on the 4th day (a six hour drive). Tammy was flying in that day at 4:00 pm and Andrew was getting home from Scout camp. What a sight for sore eyes. Civilization! Flush toilets! Running water (if we didn't run out)!
Here is Paul and Elisabeth's home. That big blue cube is one of the tanks they use to haul water to the house. Yep, you read that right. They have to put the tank in the truck, drive to the Water Wagon and fill it up. Then they drive home and pump the water into their holding tank downstairs.
Their place is practically a farm. They sit on 3 acres, have 4 dogs, a gaggle of geese, ducks, chickens and a huge garden.
We hung out on Saturday and went to church on Sunday. After church some of their friends came over for dinner, and we celebrated Andrew's 13th birthday with blueberry-rhubarb pie (and Elisabeth made Dallin a chocolate mousse pie too). Oh, and salmon dip--we just couldn't get enough of that fresh salmon.
Then it was back to the house to pack and enjoy one last meal of Elisabeth's wonderful cooking. Can you guess what we ate? SALMON, of course, in chowder form--oh so delicious! (I still need the recipe Elisabeth). And Uncle Mike and Andrew eked in a quick game of airsoft before heading off to the airport.
