The Ice Sculptures Give Anchorage Charm
It’s 10am and I am watching the sun peek over the Chugach Mountains. It’s a sight I could get used to, this is for sure. Dan wanted to go for a vigorous morning walk and I am catching up on blogging. Always a challenge to write when traveling, as there is more adventuring to be had. So I am looking out the window at the city and it is very interesting to note that most of the tall buildings in Anchorage are hotels. The Sheraton, the Marriot, etc. The other tall buildings are related to the oil industry, like the Conoco Phillips building. At nearby Resolution Park, where we watched the sunset Friday night, there was a plaque explaining that Anchorage is close to many of the world’s shipping locations (when you count that flying over the north pole gets to you to global destinations quickly, especially before planes had as much range as they do now), and so, it has grown into a hub for air transport. Henceforth, the large hotels that make up the downtown landscape.
Yesterday we went over to Snow City Café again for breakfast (we found our groove there). It was pretty hopping on a Sunday morning and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. We both discovered that their gluten free bread is very good. Sometimes gluten free bread tastes like cardboard, but this one is made from tapioca and, with butter, it’s awesome. I grabbed an activity map of Anchorage to see if anything I didn’t already know about, jumped out at me. And low and behold, my eyes fell to the Jewish Museum. When I mentioned it to Dan, he said, “let’s do it!” and so it was on our list. While he is not Jewish himself, he appreciates that I am and is interested in Judaism, from a cultural perspective.
Snow City Was Quickly Becoming Our Favorite Breakfast Joint
The weather was awesome again. It was going to be in the mid-30’s and with barely a cloud in the sky and no wind, it honestly felt a lot warmer. In part, this is because I was wearing an under layer of merino wool, but still, it was completely comfortable to do outdoor things. We passed by Bird Creek yesterday, not far from Anchorage on the Seward Highway and I later read about it as a hiking option. It’s only a few miles each way, but with an elevation gain of over 3000 feet, it’s a legitimate grunt. Our hearts were pumping and no sooner had we started, than I was peeling off layers. I had on merino wool, then a wool sweater, then a wool jacket and wool hat and gloves. It was way too much. The scenery was the same amazing scenery I was describing yesterday, with Turnagain Arm displaying grandiose reflections of the Chugach Mountains. So sunny and tropical compared with our former expectations, lots of people were trekking up with their sweet and exuberant dogs – it was the makings of a perfect morning.
Now, the same thing we dealt with along the Kenai River Trail, the icy paths, were our only hindrance in making good headway. The motto of every Alaskan is (or should be) “be prepared”. We were completely prepared for the temperature, yet we weren’t prepared for hiking on the ice. And unlike yesterday when we were more or less on flat ground, we were headed straight uphill, so it was a more complicated situation. We just incorrectly assumed that there would be more snow and no ice, but with the daily highs hovering around 35 degrees the snow melted during the day and refroze into ice at night. We did the best we could walking alongside the ice, but at some point, it became obvious that it would be too much to overcome. The rest of the hikers all had shoe spikes on, which are a step down from crampons, but still very effective for stabilizing walking on ice. OK – next time, we will be better prepared!
We did stop at some great lookout points to enjoy the views. Although I say this about a lot of places, I really did feel it when I said “it just doesn’t get any better than this.” Alaska is similar to Oregon with the mountains and lakes, although Alaska is Oregon on steroids. So much more dramatic. We chatted with some other hikers and they alluded to the fact that while they used to be able to cross country ski outside their backyard in town, they are adapting their wintertime activities to hiking later into the season.
It’s Hard to Argue with Alaskan Scenery
We stopped for a quick lunch at New Sagaya’s, which is a fusion of a health food store and a regular grocery store. The deli had a few types of poke, the traditional Hawaiian raw fish dish and we were game. Inside of New Sagaya’s is a coffee shop, Kaladi Brothers which has grown into somewhat of an Anchorage institution.
Seafood Is Abundantly King
The Jewish Museum was next. There were few cars, which wasn’t surprising. We were actually surprised there was a large enough contingent of Jews in Anchorage to even have an organization for them. The doors were locked but a woman who was approaching called in and had them open it up for all of us. Inside we met three people – Rabbi Greenberg who is from Russia, his son who was born in Israel and is also a rabbi, and Leslie, a woman who is from Long Island (about 25 minutes from where I grew up) and lived in Seattle for years and now Anchorage.
When we mentioned that we lived in Oregon, Rabbi Greenberg became super excited. His niece lives in Eugene and recently opened up a Chabad chapter and she is the nicest person in world and he wanted to connect my son and me with her for gatherings, etc. The rabbi’s brother lives in Vancouver, WA, just north of Portland, and he is the nicest person in the world and runs a business networking group to enhance the Jewish community.
Rabbi Greenburg and His Son
They were all very eager to give us a tour and we were game for checking out the synagogue and whatever else they wanted to show us. We also wanted to go to the museum, which was the small building next to the one we were in. And by the way, we noticed the building was named after David Green, which is the same person we met at the furrier yesterday. Although upon inquiring, we found out the building was funded by the grandfather and we met the grandson David Green.
Leslie let us in and wanted to give an explanation of what we were going to see, in what was a very digestible sized museum. There were two exhibits on display. One was about the influential Jews of Anchorage – and it featured five men and their kin. One was the Green family and we met David Green yesterday. Another were the Gottsteins, who did very well developing real estate. They created Carr Gottstein, which in part became an Alaskan chain of grocery stores, which eventually got bought out by Safeway for $330M, a nice tidy profit.
The other exhibit, which comprised most of the museum was a fascinating bit of history that neither Dan nor I had ever heard of. In 1948, when Israel had become a nation, there was a plan in place to help 600,000 Jews settle in Israel from other Arab countries. At the time, Alaska Air was the largest charter airline, which means that they had the ability to have their flights privately chartered. At first, the head of Alaska Air saw this job as simply a way to make a lot of money flying Jews from Yemen to Israel. And so it began, over the next two years, Alaska Airlines made thousands of flights for this cause. But it began to grow into a humanitarian cause and the money was secondary. This event become known as Operation Magic Carpet.
Leslie had found out in her research that her own father was one of the pilots on these missions. I found it interesting that he never brought this up while raising her. It was only at some point when she approached her mother and inquired that she made the discovery. So although it was Rabbi Greenberg who originally wanted this topic to be in the museum, it became near and dear to Leslie’s heart.
The Route of Operation Magic Carpet
This was funny, but our entire time in the museum, Leslie kept following one of us around and talking about what was on the wall and giving further details about things. I don’t think she is overbearing in general, but the combination of her pride around her work and her feeling like the message was so important and that she wanted to spread the knowledge – made things so she was micro managing our every move. She would just stand next to us and rattle stuff off. I responded by being engrossed in what I was doing and ignoring her, but that didn’t seem to help!!
At some point, we moved on and we both concluded that it’s likely no Jews have shown up there since September, that they viewed me like manna from heaven – and they all responded with a disproportionate amount of exuberance.
Nearby was the annual Anchorage Folk Festival. The schedule was such that there was a break from 5-7pm, and so we only caught two acts before the break began. In the lobby, I spoke to the woman handing out schedules and discovered she grew up in Oregon, in a town named Jefferson, about 45 minutes north of Eugene. For sure, there is a Pacific Northwest connection with Alaska.
The first band had six people in it. One was a woman who was a bit on the punkish side. There was a man who was belting out a sort of white rap. And there was also a kid, probably no older than ten, who was playing instruments and sometime singing. An eclectic mix for sure.
The second band was Irish tap dancing. Nine women and one man. The women all wore wigs and they were very well choreographed. Their level of tap dancing was actually pretty advanced and very impressive. They performed a few songs and we could easily have sat through more – they were very, very good.
We headed home and sat in the Jacuzzi at the Captain Cook to warm ourselves up before heading out for dinner. I had read about The Bubbly Mermaid in the Lonely Planet guide, and although oysters would not be substantial enough for dinner, I proposed we have our appetizer there and go for dinner elsewhere. The ambiance of the place was great. It was a hole in the wall and the lighting was dim. The oyster bar in the middle of the room was decorated to look like a ship. The walls were filled with shelves with bottles of champagne and made for a nice backdrop. Although there were a variety of ways that the oysters could be prepared, we opted for them raw. Served on the half shell, undoubtedly is the most nourishing way to eat them. They were awesome and when we asked about what type they were, the owner let us know us that the Alaskan oyster world had not yet evolved in the way that the Puget Sound oyster world had. They basically get the oysters from four locations in Alaska and that’s the end of the description. These were Ketchikan oysters, from the inside passage. He was being diplomatic, but in short, was saying that Washington and Oregon had a bourgeoisie oyster culture and in Alaska, they kept it simple, knowing that whatever the oyster, it would be incredible.
The Bubbly Mermaid Has a Real Alaskan Fisherman Feel to It
Dan was craving something a bit more substantial and I researched burgers before we left the hotel. It seemed Sack’s Café had the most enticing description for a burger, so we walked there to check it out. Sack’s Burger – ground sirloin – sauteed mushroom & onion, cheddar, Sack’s special sauce, pale ale mustard, house-made fries, and roasted red pepper ketchup. Feeling satiated, we indulged in our evening walk and headed home.
Some Old Age Wisdom That Really Spoke to Me