Greetings from Alaska. I'm pretty stoked and the sun hasn't even come out yet. I hear Fairbanks is pretty industrial, but today for lunch we're going to the cute, albeit small, downtown area.
This morning while watching the today show, there was a sudden reminder how remote of an area Fairbanks really is. As the Today show switched to its local broadcast, the local news station touted itself as the "Interior Alaska's News Leader." Wait, what other cities ARE there in interior Alaska? Fairbanks is the largest in interior alaska, and second in the whole state behind Anchorage. The population? 31,000 in 32 sq miles. For comparison, the sleepy hamlet of Worcester is home to 10,000 in 16 sq miles. But I digress..
The winner of interior Alaskan broadcasting had a striking similarity to the Methacton High School morning news program. It was terrible. They didn't even have different newscasters for the different topics, news, sports, weather...it was just the same girl, who looked slightly terrified.
People here also plug in their cars. Its pretty crazy and I wonder how many people have backed out and accidentally ripped the plug out of their car. The plug keeps the oil in the car warm so it doesn't freeze. During dinner last night, my coworker and I realized that some people just left their trucks running in the parking lot during their meal (or football game, as we were watching Giants/Dallas at a sports bar). I haven't noticed what the gas prices are here, but I'm assuming its cheaper to leave a truck idling, if not worse on the environment.
But overall I'm very excited to be in Alaska. I'm hoping to be able to come back in nicer weather; Denali National Park is only 90 miles away! The Arctic Circle a mere 80 miles! For dinner, we may go to North Pole, a town 15 miles away. And it's really not all that cold! Hopefully once I see daylight I'll take a picture to post!
People in MN plug in their cars too. You see it more up north. Kinda crazy.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see pics!
ReplyDeleteSoooo I think there's something wrong with me. I read the title of this post in Robin Sherbatsky's voice and when you mentioned the town of Denali I realized the only reason I've heard of that town is because of Twilight...sigh...
When does the sun come up? When I was in Fairbanks the sun was up from 4 am till 1130pm... That's a llloooonnggg day! Hope you see Mt Mckinley while you're there, the park is amazing! C u Next week?
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