myumyumyu

Anchorage was a unique place to celebrate the Fourth of July. Stella, Jensen, and I, plus our coworkers, went to see the annual Alaska Baseball League's Glacier Pilots vs. Bucs double header on July 3rd, to be followed by fireworks at midnight. Not only was it not the evening of the 4th, it was also only about 45-50 degrees, cold and rainy, and not dark out! We made the good decision of going to the game slightly late at 8pm, since we ended up shivering for 4 hours outside. It was a lot of fun though, and worth it in the end when the fireworks began, accompanied by an all-American soundtrack featuring songs like "American Pie" and "Proud to be an American." It was fun as we sang along and squinted to see the fireworks through the falling rain. I don't think I've ever seen fireworks from so close (they were setting them off from right behind the baseball field), and it was cool to see the falling pieces of burning paper from the fireworks and the smoke rolling across the field toward us when it was all over.

Midnight fireworks for July 4th in the daylight

After the fireworks, I was freezing and wet, but I ran (literally, getting my exercise for the... month lol) to meet up with Charlie at a bar downtown, and we played ping pong! Not your normal bar experience, but I much preferred this. It was funny/awkward every time the ball got away and we had to crawl between people to get it. We ended the night back at home with leftover scallion pancake, pad thai, and PB&Js. Charlie has taught me about the many ways to properly eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Valuable life lessons haha.

The next day, we went to Hatcher Pass, where there was another Arts in the Park event. We also got a tour of the Independence Mine, an old gold mining operation. It was strange what a nice environment the miners lived in.

Old building at Hatcher Pass that was yet to be restored

The buildings where they lived were painted silver and red to add light and happiness in contrast to the miners' environment in the tunnels.

Some buildings where miners lived and worked

It was basically like college, with dormitories, game rooms, dining halls, and more. The rooms were nice, spacious, and generally quite impressive.

A restored double room where miners might have lived

We tried Snow City Cafe for an early breakfast on Thursday. This famous breakfast place is busy with a line at 7am, and we'd heard so many good things about it that we had to try it. It was also Charlie's last day in Alaska. I had the Kodiak Benedict (poached eggs, Alaska king crab cakes, toasted English muffins, housemade hollandaise, and green onion, served with hash browns) and sampled some of Stella's tasty breakfast burrito and Charlie's abundant and satisfying French toast. It was delicious food. The only downside is that I keep forgetting to take pictures of my food here because I'm anxious to eat it before I realize it. It's happened so often that Charlie thinks that I'm lying about loving to take pictures of food. I feel that a photo is necessary to truly share my experience though, so here is a picture from Snow City Cafe's website:

Snow City Cafe's Kodiak Benedict

We ended up staying and chatting long enough that we all ended up being a bit late to work. That's how you know that it was a good meal and good conversation though.

Today, we went to the First Fridays gallery events, ending up at the Anchorage Museum. After only seeing some of the exhibits, we gave in to our hunger and went back to Gumbo House, one of our recent favorite restaurants. Stella and I had a good meal, and then we went on a walk along the Coastal Trail and hung out at the playground by Westchester Lagoon for a while. This is not your typical playground. In particular, there's a seesaw swing thing that is awesome and caught our eyes the first time we walked by it. It takes a lot of work to get the right momentum going, and we consider it an intense workout. Here's a picture of Stella and Charlie from the last time that we were there:

Stella and Charlie on the awesome swing

Swinging and then just sitting to chat at this playground, we didn't check the time or think about parting ways to go home until it was almost midnight. This happens time and time again, because it's always daylight and it's so easy to get caught up in... life. What a strange place. Today, I saw a picture that Tim posted of New York at night, and it was so pitch black that it confused and kind of scared me. Even though it's been cloudy lately and getting darker at night, I don't quite remember what complete darkness feels like anymore.