Anchorage!!

Good to be in Anchorage, but I'll miss the road a little bit. I really enjoyed it on the road. There was never a point where I was dreading more driving, which I assumed would come with the territory. I now understand why thousands of people set out on the Alaska Highway in an RV with no actual destination other than the highway. It's something that I'd do again in a heartbeat. I would want to drive an RV, though. I'd probably go 20mph the entire way if I was driving one because I'd be afraid of hitting a mountain corner going too fast.

Anchorage is a real city. Honest. Even though it's early in the season I could tell there were already a lot of tourists. I'd be interested to know how much the population swells in the summer in Alaska with seasonal residents and tourism. It must be huge. Either way I'm pretty sure it would still be a real city without all the tourists. They've got a few tall buildings anyway.

I stopped into a store to buy a drink and I also wanted to get some sort of local beer to try. The store I went to didn't have a full selection so I didn't find one, but I still got some beer. It was definitely a time that seemed right for a beer (well, later on that night). When the guy asked for my ID, he glanced at it and gave it back to me then he did a double take and said 'wait.' I assumed he was going to think it was fake or something. I don't think my license and passport pictures look like the same person and I don't think they represent my actual looks either. Because of this I'm always thinking that someone is going to think I've got my sister's ID or something because I'm told I look really young. Plus it's an out of state license, which usually smells like a fake. He took it back and said "you're a flatliner." I assumed he was saying that because I wasn't from Alaska where there are huge mountains. I replied "I guess so. . . I grew up on the beach so the mountains are blowing me away here." Well, it turns out he's from Vermont originally and he says that Vermonters call everyone fron south of the Vermont border Flatliners. aaaaaalright. It was funny that the first person I met in Anchorage was from Vermont. He was surprised to find that I had just arrived for the summer that day and the first question he asked afterwards was, "so, are you going to go back home."

What a question, right? He knows I've just arrived there that day and that I'll be there for the summer and he asks me if I'm staying forever. Does that happen a lot? Do people arrive here and instantly fall in love? I can say that I'm blown away by this place, but love is a word I use sparingly. I'm thinking I'm going to meet a lot of passionate individuals while here. I have a habit of talking to people working in stores and restaurants. I hate for people that are serving me to just be another person serving me. I like to think of them as more human than only being the middle man between me and the goods I'm buying. Some are receptive to it and want to chat while others actually just want to be the middle man. To each his own. This Vermont guy seemed like he was going to play the middle man card until he found out where I'm from. Even when people aren't from New England, they seem to be more receptive when they find out where I'm from. It's like they're happy I've traveled so far and happened to find their little slice of heaven in the process.

Should be an interesting summer.