Exploring the Last Frontier

Thursday was "Adventure Day" - participants of the tourism congress were invited to choose one of several day excursions and we had picked the "Taste of Anchorage (culinary) Tour", which was a good choice. From New Sagayas Town Market (see pic) - a predominantly Asian market with its own bakery and a spectacular seafood department with water tanks to keep crabs, oysters, mussels and such fresh - we continued to Modern Dwellers Chocolate Shop (pics), where they were offering hot chocolate samples. They produce their own truffles and chocolates, among them one with ground smoked salmon, big deal, but actually, you didn't really taste the salmon.


Highlight of the tour was the South Restaurant for a demonstration of breaking up, cutting and preparing different kind of salmon in their modern show kitchen. The two fish they prepared were King (Chinook) Salmon (left pic) and Silver (Koho) Salmon (right pic), the first one larger, higher in fat, with softer, pinkish meat and (in our opinion) more intensive in taste; the other smaller, leaner, firmer and more reddish in color.

The three chefs de cuisine of the restaurant showed us how to cut up the salmon, how to bone and fillet it, and this was highly interesting! Their knife skills and precision in removing the bones with tweezers was just incredible! On the pic the whole process is shown, including one (last pic) showing both salmons, king and silver, besides each other.
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After working on them, they prepared the fish in two different ways: seared and grilled. Doing so, we were able to compare the two kinds of salmon and the different cooking methods. They served it with three great salads: a Kale Caesar, a Roasted Beet Salad with orange, fennel and goat cheese, and a Tabouleh - all of them delicious! Salmon and salads were paired with a dry light Washington Rosé Wine and followed by dessert. This restaurant is still reasonably priced and they did a great job in promoting themselves.



On by bus to Midnight Sun Brewing Co., one of 26 breweries in Alaska (!), which is an amazing number, considering the approx. 700.000 people living in a huge area. "Midnight" is very creative and offers a broad variety of different brews, like the "Fallen Angel" (Belgium Ale) or the Alpenglow (a wheat beer). We tasted a couple of them after a tour with the "beer ambassador" , a striking lady with blue hair. Especially loved the Triple Dark IPA and the Bock! We had no idea, how many breweries there are in Alaska and how good the beers are they produce. BTW: A rule in Alaska is: no light beers, we wanna get the real deal: 5 % of alcohol and up... It's dark and cold a lot anyway, so let's get happy! They are even offering brewery tours - "Swig Tours" - and we met with the guy who is operating them; he was a good source of information.

The Anchorage Distillery, our next stop, is in operation for only one year but they already know how to produce their wodkas, with German equipment, as we got to know. Wished, we would have been able to buy a bottle, but with four more weeks of traveling and a flight tomorrow, we didn't. In the distillery we met with the adventurous young owners, experimenting with different spices and berries in their wodkas and, also, creating new cocktails in their little tasting room. Besides the wodkas they produce some gin and whiskey, too.

Last stop was the Lakefront Hotel, where they served us hot soup and appetizers with Irish Coffee outside on their patio with fire pits and a great view towards the lake with little planes landing and starting on the still frozen lake. Lucky us, have stayed here for three days at the beginning of our trip, a week ago. At about 45 deg. F. outside, we didn't need our winter coats anymore!


Strangely, most of the innovative places we were visiting were situated in Midtown Anchorage, in mostly unremarkable strip malls. Nevertheless, we got to know that Anchorage really has a fantastic culinary scene and great breweries! We've had a good time in Alaska and now just wish to be back once in summer!

All Aboard!

After two days in the conference center with appointments all day, the Farewell Dinner of the Go West Summit took place on a train. At 5 pm we were picked up and all loaded on a special train of Alaska Railroad at the local Railroad Station.
Usually the train runs between Seward (South), Anchorage and Fairbanks as the northen-most station. We were on the train for about three hours and besides appetizers and drinks being served, there was live music and animal "characters" (bears, beavers, moose...) for photo opportunities. Unfortunately it got dark a little after 6 pm and we didn't see much anymore. In addition, it got a bit loud and hysterical on the train after a couple of drinks... Nevertheless, what a great effort all the local tourism and train people put into this event and how great they handled this big amount of people!

Play hard, work hard

Monday we moved from the Hilton to the congress hotel, the Captain Cook (see pic), only a couple of blocks away. City of Anchorage isn't really big. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the room before 3 pm, regular check-in time, and therefore explored the city a little more - unsuccessfully looking for a drug store. Caused by the constant melting and freezing, a little snow and some rain, the walkways were icy and slippery, but, again, Alaska didn't live up to its reputation to be cold. Finally, we got a nice corner room on the 11th floor with quite a view towards the harbor and the mountains; at least it was worth waiting for a room on the upper floors!

Out again at 5 pm to catch the shuttle to the Alaska Native Heritage Center (pics ANHC), where the Go West Summit Welcome Dinner took place. Food was served buffet-style inside the museum and outside - more authentic native food like salmon or soups at tables outside with little firepits adjacent. Wished we would have had more time (and daylight) to visit this highly instructive cultural center, partly museum, partly outdoors village with native dwellings and demonstrations like dances.

We talked to some of the Alaska Native people who were present in the center for the event and learned a lot about the different Northern tribes and its destinction from the tribes in the "Lower 48" (refering to the 48 States further South, having gained statehood earlier than Alaska). Five distinct geographic regions of Alaska – Aleuts, Northern Eskimos (Inupiat), Southern Eskimos (Yuit), Athabascans (interior Alaska) and Southeast Coastal Indians (Tlingit and Haida) shaped the vast land up North. These groups are based on cultural and linguistic similarities of peoples, and more than 20 languages are spoken among Alaska Native people. Got to know a lot about their lifestyles in the past and nowadays, that they don’t have „reservations““ but "communities" and "corporations", that gambling and lottery aren’t allowed in Alaska, that polar bears, whales and seales were main source of nutrition for the natives etc. etc.

Tuesday the tourism conference started at 8 am with appointments all day until 5 pm. "Buyers" - the 16 journalists from all over the world are part of them - were sitting at tables receiving "suppliers", offering their products, either destinations hotels, tours, attractions etc. Alaska attracted a record crowd of about 600 people in its modern new conference center (see pic) this year for Go West.

Back to the hotel at 5:30 pm, dress-down to jeans and comfortable shoes, on to the Colorado Reception in the hotel, with a buffet and drinks, but, unfortunately, without the usual "goodies" from Colorado. First day of congress is over ... tired.

Rain in Alaska

The last two days we had rain in abundance, combined with temps of about 40+ deg. F. After an excellent breakfast in South Restaurant in Anchorage on Saturday - a fancy new place with cooking demonstrations and a great bar - we drove south on Seward Highway along an inlet called "Turnagain Arm" towards Glacier Valley. It was a wonderful scenic drive, mountains on the left side, water and little icebergs on the right. Fortunatey, it was still partly sunny in the morning with fascinating clouds and light reflections. On the way, our bus driver also showed us the the damage of the big earthquake on Good Friday, March 27, 1964 - the most powerful recorded earthquake in North American history. It was devastating and had caused a seismic shift which is still partially visible today.

At the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center we got a tour and watched brown bears, raindeer (cariboos), bald eagles, lynx, mountain bison, musk oxes and other animals which were rescued for some reason and brought into the center. AWCC takes injured and orphaned animals and those that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center. It had started to snow hard in the meantime.

On to the little mining town of Girdwood (40 mi south of Anchorage), to the Hotel Alyeska, a 4-star-ski resort on sea level with its own air tram up to the mountain. In 1954 Girdwood had become the land base for a major ski area and thanks to a French Baron by name Francois de Gunzburg, who installed a Poma chairlift, built ski trails and a day lodge. Today, it's a very popular destination for skiers, snow boarders and for other fancy wintersports like heli-skiing and cat-skiing.

In the meantime it had begun to snow hard and since rooms weren't ready yet around noon, we started to hike through the northernmost rain forest, even now, in the winter, appearing very lush and mystical. Unfortunately, trails were so icy that we didn't hike the whole trail but returned to the hotel instead.

On the valley floor, around the hotel, there was almost no snow at all and you had to go really high up to be able to have good snow conditions, but, up there the visibility was apparently horrible and the wind blowing hard as some of the group who skiid reported. That was also the reason, that the planned dinner at Seven Glaciers Mt. Alyeska restaurant - a famous scenic restaurant on top of the mountain - was cancelled: the tram didn't run because of the wind. In the evening the weather had switched to rain out of buckets.

Nevertheless, we had a very good meal at one of the other hotel restaurants with the group and a couple of hotel reps: a smoked scallop bisque, rockfish or beef as an entree, dessert and good wine. The same chef as in the restaurant on top of the mountain had prepared it and though, we missed the view, food was fabulous.

After breakfast in the hotel the group left for a planned snowmobile tour. We were all bundled up and equipped with gear at the outfitter's shop and drove up a little in the company's bus, until our guide got a call that even in higher elevations there is no snow, but rain and ice, and, therefore, the tour was cancelled.


In the pouring rain the bus made a detour to one of the glaciers and drove South, towards Whittier - just stopped in front of the long tunnel (the longest one in the U.S.) to this city, which has no other connection than this road - with the exception of boat and plane. Back then to Anchorage for the Anchorage Museum, lunch first, then time on our own for (another) museum's visit.

At 3:30 pm we had a tour at the King Street Brewery in Midtown Anchorage with the owner, which was very interesting. Great beers, too, especially liked their IPAs! Good thing in Alaska is, that there are quite a few breweries and that they are proud of their brews, which are listed on every restauurant menu. It's much easier to find a brewery in Anchorage than a drug or grocery store! Back in town we check-in at the Hilton Downtown at 5:30 pm, out again at 6 pm for the "Buyers' Reception", an event connected to the tourism conference, again in the Anchorage Museum. Stayed there for a short while before heading on to the Hard Rock Café for our last group dinner. No fish for a change - we have had salmon, halibut and rockfish in the last days - but pork, amazingly good meal. Back at the hotel around 9:30 pm, tired.

Sled dogs and a fantastic flight

After an early breakfast at The Lakefront Hotel in Anchorage the group departed in a comfortable large bus for the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. This association organizes the Iditarod sled dog race, which will take place in about two weeks. 86 teams (1 musher and 16 dogs at the beginning) participate this year, about 20 % of the mushers being woman. We learned a lot about the background of the famous dog race and, fortunately, there was a sled dog team of two girls and their dogs outside (see pic), waiting for the dogs' medical check-up for Iditarod. Therefore, we were able to meet and greet and pet the dogs and get more information from real mushers.

On to Talkeetna, a little, incorporated town, esp. popular with climbers of Mt. Denali in summer. They use it as their headquarters, but, also cruiseship passengers from the Inside Passage to Seward (brought in by bus) often stay here. The Talkeetna Roadhouse is a legendary guesthouse and restaurant. Its owner, Tracy, is an unfailing source of information about this little town with its own radio station and a picturesque main street (see pics).

After lunch we experienced THE highlight of our trip: a flight over Mt. Denali. Talkeetna Air Taxi gave us a lift and the two of us were fortunate to have a small Cesna on our own. The rest of the group was flying in a larger 10-seater called "Otter".


Our female pilot was very experienced and knowledgeable, a trained mechanic and a true outdoors person. She did a great job flying into the mountains and over the glaciers of Mt. Denali. Thanks to blue skies and smooth air conditions we had a fantastic 1,5 hour flight and though we weren't able to land on one of the glaciers (they don't do it in winter), it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.


Denali, part of Denali National Park and Preserve, was formerly called Mount McKinley. With over 6.000 meters it is the highest mountain in North America and one of the so-called Seven Summits. Denali's landscape is a mix of forest, tundra and glaciers, rock, and snow at the higher elevations. The longest glacier is the Kahiltna Glacier.

Next stop was Vern Halter’s Dream a Dream sled dog kennel but, unfortunately, there was some conflict of date and time and therefore the owner had to cut it short. Because of the upcoming Iditarod race and dogs being in intense training now, we didn't experience a dog mushing ride, but only met with the dogs and talked to this famous musher and his wife, a veterinarian and musher, too. Both have already won several trophees in dog races and Vern is now training mushers and dogs. The approximately 40 dogs in his kennel were really friendly and beautiful dogs.

On the way back to Anchorage we stopped at the musk ox farm in Palmer. Musk oxes belong to the goat family - which I didn't know before - and have nothing to do with bison or regular cattle. They produce the most expensive wool - called Qiviut - in the world, very light and very warm. The owner of the farm showed us his animals on the pasture and talked about wool production and how the native people use it and what specific patterns of knitting they have.

After dinner at Turkey Red in Palmer - a fantastic mediterranean restaurant where I had goose (see pic) and Peter beef stew, preceded by many greek appetizers and a salad and followed by pies and cakes out of the own bakery - we were brought back "home" to Anchorage.

Anchorage here we come

Slept well for 5,5 hours. The hotel is very quiet and, as we noticed this morning, our room has a view towards a (frozen) lake where floatplanes usually start (not many right now). Since we were awake at 8:30 am, we decided to take the bus into town to explore the city. Not too cold (about -3 deg. C) and sunny, walkways icy everywhere, but not much snow. Ice sculptures in one of the public parts (see pic) show that it is constantly cold, though, in Alaskans' opinion, it's a too warm winter. Traffic is very sparse in the city, not much foot-traffic neither. Tourists like us sort of stick out. Cars are rather big trucks here, with special tires with spikes. Dowtown doesn't appear highly metropolitan or fancy, rather rustic with some sort of golddigger/pioneer atmosphere. One big shopping mall on the main axles of town, 4th/5th Ave., many outfitters, a couple of restaurants and many Alaskan souvenir shops.



The Alaska Railroad was constructed in 1915 and there is a nice, architectually remarkable railroad station (see pic) in town (see pic). Crossing the tracks we reached the Ulu Factory (pic right side),a knife factory - knives and wooden boards to go with, produced on the property. Ulu knifes had been traditionally used by Native people of the Arctic, they come in a naturally curved shape with a wooden (or stone) handle.

Anchorage, only founded in 1920, is not the capital of Alaska (Juneau), but the largest city in the state with a population of about 300.000. Considering that the whole state of Alaska has about 740.000 inhabitants, it's a real metropolis! Alaska has only became a State in 1959 (the 49th, just followed by Hawaii). In 1867 the U.S. Government had purchased Alaska from Russia for "only" $ 7.2 mio. - what a deal considering the vast stretch of land! Russian explorers were the first to inspect Alaska in the beginning of the 18th century and they have later established an active fur trade. Similar to the Spanish in the South they had built their forts and missions and had tried to "educate" the Native people.

About the native people - about 20 % of the population today - we learned a lot in the Anchorage Art Museum (see pic), which is much more about history than about art (only a couple smaller changing art exhibitions). In the Alaska Gallery it's all about Alaska's history, in the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center it's exclusively about Indians (Atabascans, Northwest Coast Indians - Haida and Tlingit - and Aleuts) and Inuit/Eskimo. Especially this section is very nicely done and very instructive (see pic)!We spent almost two hours in this museum before we took the bus (which is mostly used by local natives) back to the hotel.

Up North

In the air again… Got an early start this morning: up at 5 am, at the airport (MUC) at 7 am, plane started on time at around 10 am. All went smooth, no snow on the roads, no traffic jams or accidents on the autobahn, quick check-in and security check.

On to Alaska - one of the few U.S. States we’ve never been before. On one hand side looking forward to getting to know this northern-most state of America, on the other side, not sure about the cold and snow... We will join a 3-day so-called fam tour (arranged for participants of the Go West tourism summit) in Alaska before the tourism conference (Go West) will start on Monday.

Flight to ATL was a little bumpy, food was horrible as usual, but. at least, the plane was half-empty and we had two rows of seats just for the two of us. The other two planes were packed to the last seat, all on time, but, also many turbulences.

About 20 hours in the air in total, about 32+ hours up and going without any sleep we even arrived 45 min. earlier to Anchorage than scheduled, our luggage was there, hotel pick-up was fast, and at 2:15 am we eventually had a bed, tired to the bones.