Text 15471, 61 rader
Skriven 2011-09-08 22:52:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Alaska trip report 870
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Bill wanted to show me a piece of local culture, so he took
me to the Longbranch for lunch. A low, dark building, it's
either an old roadhouse and biker hangout or a facsimile
thereof, I can't figure out which. At least the food is
good and abundant. Bill's burger was unsurprising - good
meat, a little too small for my appetite but big enough for
his; my brisket sandwich was tender, not oversauced, quite
decent. Beer - Lite for him, Alaskan Amber for me - was more
costly than the appearance of the place would have led me to
believe.

I joined some friends at the Spenard Roadhouse, not far
from the airport, a bustling place with food much better
than the words Spenard and roadhouse would imply. I had
the famous burger with bacon jam ... or rather the burger
with the famous bacon jam. Very nice, very original, though
there wasn't enough bacon jam, part of whose rightful space
had been usurped by slices of dried apple. The place is
famous for tater tots. I don't really know why. As the place
specializes in local microbrews, I tried the Midnight Sun
Arctic Rhino coffee porter, the Kodiak brown, and Oosik
amber ale, which was surprisingly assertive and not so
pilsnerish as one might expect from something coming from
an Oosik.

We repaired to the home of one of these lowlifes, where I
was induced to ingest various other odd liquids, including
Liviko Likoor Strawberry, which tasted like children's
cough syrup, unlike the general run of Baltic boozes, which
taste like adult cough syrup.

I was almost tempted to join them - they're aviation enthusiasts,
and one is a pilot - on a day trip to Aniak, Kalskag, Russian
Mission, and Bethel (i.e., places one would never go on one's
own) but thought better of it. The event, I believe, was
cancelled for weather anyway.

--

Instead, Bill and Connie took me southward to see the sights.
We'd gotten an unaccustomedly early start, so Turnagain Arm
Pit, about which we had heard good things, wasn't open yet,
and instead we went off to Girdwood, where the Alyeska tram
took us to the mountainside restaurant, where surprisingly
good halibut and chips and decent reindeer sausage consoled
us. As the sun had come out in abundance, they basked in
postprandial bliss while I went on a short hike up to the
base of a glacier (less than a mile, not a big deal, even
with me in my condition).

Our route back to town went past the old Bird House, which
is no more, which prompted Bill to take us to the replica
Bird House, which is part of the famous Chilcoot Charlie's
- whose motto "we cheat the other guy and pass the savings
on to you" was penned many years ago by the multitalented
Mr. Whitekeys. It was closed.


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