Finally, our one and only breakfast at a local restaurant! And it wasn’t even one of the four that I had planned out. We ate at ‘Lily’s Family Restaurant and Pancake House’. Heehee. All of the other eateries on my list were based off of our downtown hotel so they were a bit further and out of our way. Today was also the gay pride parade downtown so we wanted to avoid any of the traffic there since we were on a schedule. We’re always on a schedule when I’m on vacation since I always try to make the most out of our trips, especially since this is only a four day trip.
Today we were going to see the sights and learn about Anchorage and Alaska. I had planned to go to the Native Heritage Center then take a trolley tour around Anchorage. Later tonight we were going to go to the Fly by Night Club which is a show by Alaskans that pokes fun of Alaska.
The Native Heritage Center is a sad historical center. http://www.alaskanative.net/ I was mentally comparing it to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, I really shouldn’t have. It is very small and appears to be run by donations. I think the Native Alaskans should just build casinos to make money in order to build a grander center since the little donation boxes with loose change isn’t working out for them. There’s such a rich history to share, but due to funding the presentation of the villages and museum section is rather pitiful. The methods used to construct the village housing is obviously not traditional, rather they used tarp and plywood ruining the “historical” effect. The dancing kids seemed embarrassed and for the group to admit to adding beads for ‘flair’ on authentic sailor hats seems to just ruin the historical tradition of the garments they were wearing. The best part of the center was the films that were shown every half hour. I learned more about the culture in the films than from the center itself. The $1 ice cream sandwich was a perk too, nothing costs $1 these days.
We missed the trolley ride. But we got the chance to buy some gloves at REI for tomorrow. Those gloves would have been useful during our other excursions. We also found out that we were royally ripped off at the California REI when we bought our microwool long johns. They were $50 per piece in CA, and anywhere from $12 - $22 cheaper here in Anchorage, how upsetting.
We had an early dinner in Girwood at the Double Musky Inn. http://www.doublemuskyinn.com/ It’s a New Orleans’ style Cajun restaurant – up in Alaska! Very cute, the food was good and the atmosphere loud and crowded. Featured on the Food Network in their “best of” series. We decided to have dinner there instead of at the Fly By Night Club because they like to serve SPAM there. Apparently Alaska is the 2nd largest consumer of SPAM in the US, next to Hawaii. How do these strange things happen? The show at the Fly By Night Club was the most gaudy, loud, insane, obnoxious show I’ve ever seen. http://www.flybynightclub.com/ Were it not for the company of my sister and brother in law, we probably would have walked out. We’ve had our share of bad shows but this was definitely one for the books. Overall it was a painful experience to remember and I would recommend it to anyone going to Anchorage, just so they can experience good old Alaskan jollies and follies. They’ve got four shows during the year running during each season, we saw the “Whale Fat Follies” – there weren’t any whales, but there were hunters, reverse strippers, fish, flappers and an elephant on stage. You’ve got to see it to believe it.
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