Personal Diary, September 2, 2010, Wasilla, Alaska:
I bought a fig at the grocery store today. Turns out they’re about the size of a Hershey’s Kiss. The checkout person just looked at me. “One fig? You want to buy one fig?”
“Yes, just one. I want to see what they taste like.”
She put the fig in the bag without weighing it. “I’m pretty sure I can give you one fig without charging you for it,” she said.
This photo shows two great things about driving the Dalton Highway in Alaska: the traffic and the scenery.
As one last photo of Alaska (for the time being), here’s the Arctic Circle sign that you’ll find on the Dalton Highway north of Fairbanks, on the way up north to places like Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay.
Back in the day I drove up to Fairbanks, Alaska, and then from there I drove up to Prudhoe Bay, which is as far north as you can drive in Alaska. I put some gas cans on the car because I didn’t know if there were really going to be any gas stations on the 494 mile drive, but a little “town” of Coldfoot had a couple of gas pumps.
I stopped here, filled up the gas tank, had a burger, and then finished the trek on the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay, where I stayed at this little, ahem, motel.
A rainbow over the hill, off the Dalton Highway, Alaska. (On the drive north to Deadhouse and Prudhoe Bay.)
Today people on Twitter are noting the farthest north they’ve ever been. The farthest north I’ve ever been is Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. I drove there when I lived in Talkeetna.
Once upon an Alaskan night I went out looking for the northern lights, which were currently playing in town. I found them in a couple of areas, and almost ended up sleeping the night in my car in Talkeetna, but decided to drive home instead.
Just before coming upon this light — which was either on Highway 1 or Highway 3 — I was in a very dark area, and saw something move a little bit, so I came to a complete stop. A few moments later I realized a moose was standing right next to my car. Then I remembered that you rarely see one moose, there’s often two or more. Not wanting to startle the moose, I waited until it made a move and walked away from my car.
Yours truly (Alvin Alexander), after coming inside from a cold, Alaskan winter night in 2010-2011.
I prefer the phrase, “Sun does not set.” #talkeetna #alaska
This is a photo from May 10, 2011. The long bike-riding path in Palmer, Alaska was one of my favorite things about living there. As you can see, it’s a nice, big path, separated from the road.
Back in 2011 I was at the start of the Iditarod race, which started on the frozen lake in Willow, Alaska.
Do women run in the Iditarod? Yes, they do. When I took this snapshot back in 2015, seven of the top twenty mushers (racers) in that Iditarod race were women.
This is a photo of the rubber duck, Mr. Bubble bath soap, and bathtub at the Talkeetna Roadhouse in Talkeetna, Alaska. I stayed there several times, but I’ll guess this was from the fall of 2010.
As I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Seward this afternoon, a dog walked in the back door and just stood there, looking at everyone. The owner tells me he was looking for a good poker game. ;)
~ photo from Seward, Alaska, February 25, 2011
This is THE speed limit sign on the Dalton Highway in Alaska. If I remember right, this is the only speed limit sign you’ll see when headed north from Fairbanks heading towards Prudhoe Bay.
I started off driving about 50 mph, but then after realizing I was the only person on the road — an almost-entirely entirely dirt road — I drove as fast as conditions allowed, typically a little over 90 mph.
Every spring I think about moving back to Alaska, and last night I ran across this high resolution map of Talkeetna. For the record, I used to live on I Street in Talkeetna, which isn’t shown on the map.
With the Iditarod race coming soon, I thought I’d re-share this: The Alaska Dispath News has a great video documentary that details what happened during the wild finish to the 2014 Iditarod race. This photo shows Dallas Seavey very shortly after he crossed the finish line, not knowing that he won the race.
A little Iditarod humor in honor of the race starting on March 8, 2020, in Willow, Alaska. Photo from the Seavey family Ididaride website.
This is a view of the mountains from my apartment in Palmer, Alaska, way back in 2011. Palmer is surrounded my mountains on three sides, and these are the mountains you see to the south.
I don’t remember where I saw this photo — it may have been the Fireside Books account on Twitter or Facebook — but it shows that they don’t worry about cleaning the snow off the streets too much in the winter in Alaska. This photo was taken about three blocks from my old apartment in Palmer, Alaska. (My apartment was one block down this road in the direction shown, and one or two blocks to the right.)
