Alaska's Only True City

16 February 2012
5:57 PM

Sunrise at	8:47 AM	in direction	118°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:24 PM	in direction	242°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 8 hours, 36 minutes (6 minutes, 49 seconds longer than yesterday)

Driving from the airport to our home, the first thing Gary and I noticed was the lack of traffic. Finding very little traffic on any of the streets at 3:00 PM is not unusual, though.  We were driving on Farmer's Loop, one of the major connecting roads from east to west and I turned to him and said, "This is mellow compared to Anchorage, isn't it?"  He nodded with a slight smile.  We had returned to our small burg.

Anchorage is the only city in Alaska.  The way people dress, the number of cars on the road, shopping choices, and temperatures remind me of Colorado 40 years ago, but on a much smaller scale.  Yet it is a city as opposed to our home, which is a town.  Anchorage has a Costco, and natural grocery store, two New Sagaya stores (speciality/Asian), a Nordstrom's and a JC Penney.

There are few exceptional places to eat out in Fairbanks, so going to Anchorage always means at least one or two really good meals.  Snow City Cafe is our favorite breakfast spot and is just a few blocks from where we stay when we need to travel there.  Simon and Seaforts is another wonderful place to eat, especially in summer when you can stay until midnight, watching the light upon Cook Inlet.  And Club Paris offers some of the best steaks I've ever eaten.

People in Fairbanks and other regions of the state may scornfully call it a suburb of Seattle.  Other times they might say that Anchorage residents like living near Alaska.  All of these comments highlight the fact that this is the only true city and people who live there have a higher tolerance of city life.

But, make no mistake.  From what I see, residents of Anchorage are as Alaskan in outlook as those who live in Fairbanks.  We live in unique circumstances and are bonded by that, even if many of us prefer the mellow pace of Fairbanks or villages over the urban and suburban feel of Anchorage.

I've included a slide show of the city as I saw it today.  Anchorage is often grey and overcast, yet the subtle interplay of white, grey, black and glistening light is always interesting.

Photos in order:

• Corner of 9th and L
• View of the Chugach through the Central Park
• The Chugach from the Anchorage Pioneer Home
• Downtown from the top floor of the Anchorage Pioneer Home
• Cook Inlet and Sleeping Lady looking across downtown homes and churches
• View across Turnigan Arm to the Kenai Peninsula
• Cook Inlet with a view toward Sleeping Lady and through the Willows
• Snow City Cafe Inside and out