Tally Ho!

So, it has been a very long time since I updated, so I felt like now was a fitting time.
I'm moving, folks!

To Maine!

Portland, Maine to be more specific.

I'm going to the radio program at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies.  Hopefully to learn how to be the next Ira Glass.  I'll be there for 15 weeks.  It feels like I'm moving to a foreign country.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not even leaving the east coast, so I need to stop being such a baby.

When I'm not too busy with that, I will try and update this blog a little more with awesome Maine stuff.  Hopefully my laziness with blog updating will not prevail. 

Anyhoo, I'm off to a land that I imagine is filled with lighthouses and lobsters, so wish me luck!

Anchorage In A Day

Today I will give you my own special Lindsey travel guide to Anchorage, Alaska.

Say you have a day to explore the (somewhat) lovely city of Anchorage.  Anchorage is not a particularly pretty city, but it is Alaska's largest.  So if you're in Alaska and, like me, your favorite kind of travel is exploring of urban areas, Anchorage is your best bet.

To start off, you can go to the Saturday market downtown.  I guess this only works if you're there on a Saturday.


You might see a man balancing a fake leg on his face.  While it may be weird, this is what I would consider a pretty impressive skill.


You might also see a dog wearing goggles.  Why is this dog wearing goggles?  The world may never know.


Do you wanna know where you can find some spices?  Head to "Caribou Corridor".


There you'll find a huge variety of spices.  Sadly, none of these are very Alaskan-y.  But I'm sure they'll help you improve your salmon bake.


After you're done perusing the many booths at the market, you've probably gotten pretty hungry.  Head down to Arctic Roadrunner for some huge, tasty burgers.


My father assures me this place is an Anchorage staple.  The burgers are very tasty.


What stands out the most, however, is the uber-kitschy Alaskan decor covering the walls... including this porpoise.



After lunch, head over to the Anchorage Museum, a really cool building which has exhibits pertaining to pretty much everything about Alaska.  There's art, archaeological relics, science experiment, photography, history, etc.

Oh, and giant stuffed grizzly bears.


Also, this creepy ancient rock that looks like a face.


A large portion of the museum is used to showcase the language and culture of Alaska's many, many Native American tribes.


Many creepy masks were involved in the making of this exhibit.


Elsewhere in the museum was some pretty cool, but random sculpture art.


Also, what appeared to be a salmon-shaped suitcase.


After taking in some culture, take in some Alaskan (and non-Alaskan) wildlife at the Alaska Zoo.

The last time I was at the Alaska Zoo, which was about 10 years ago, this polar bear was kept in the same enclosure of a grizzly bear.  I think they had been raised together as cubs and were buddies.  This time the polar bear was solo.  I wonder what happened to his grizzly friend.


The zoo also has the traditional black bear...


Also, randomly, llamas.


By now it should be close to the end of your day.  It's time to go to Gwennie's Old Alaska Restaurant for some traditional Alaskan eating.  Meaning the portions are epicly large.


As mentioned in the previous post, this restaurant used to be a brothel.  It's also full of stuffed animals and other kitschy, Alaskan-y decor.  But the monstrously large pancakes and the reindeer sausage make it well worth a visit.

So, that's Anchorage in a day.  It's a pretty cool place.  In all honesty though, my favorite part of Anchorage is leaving, to go down the uber-scenic Seward Highway.

A Few Random Hours in Seattle (and some in Alaska)

Be warned, there's no real reason for this post, except as an excuse to post older photos that I really like.

I've decided that I'm strangely enamored of the Pacific Northwest.  For the purposes of this post, I'll lump Alaska with the Pacific Northwest.  Hopefully that's not offensive.



I can't explain why.  It could have something to do with the fact that I've spend approximately 95% of my life on the east coast and thus heading West still holds some exoticism for me.  You know, exoticism in the form of tall pine trees and rainy weather and an over-dependence on coffee shops.

When I went to go visit my dad last summer, I had a 6.5 hour long layover in Seattle.  It was long enough that my Seattle friend kindly offered to pick me up from the airport and entertain me for a few hours.


These hours entailed going to see some earthworks...


Befriending some ducks...


Running up this hill...


And staring at this huge-ass navy ship.  Or at least I assume it was a navy ship.  There were men in uniform on a huge-ass ship at any rate.


After bopping around for a few hours and staring at the Puget Sound, I had to hop on another plane to Anchorage...


To Alaska...a land where even your local Wal-Mart looks like it could a part of some epic scenery for a Lord of the Rings movie...


... and where your typical trip to the market holds mystery and wonderment...


... and where former brothels become cherished family restaurants.


Maybe I do need to one day pack up and move out west.  At least for the option of having daily moose sightings.

The Santa Claus House

Just north of Fairbanks, is the small city of North Pole.

The North Pole, while admittedly very, very north, is nowhere near the actual north pole.



North Pole is primarily known as the home of the Santa Claus House.



The Santa Claus House is a store/kitschy tourist attraction.  It sells all manner of Christmas and Santa-related items.  It might be the biggest Christmas store you've ever seen.  It was founded in 1952 by Con and Nellie Miller.  It initially began as an ordinary trading post.  However, Con Miller loved dressing up as Santa every Christmas and got an idea.  And thus the Santa Claus House was born.

Also, the town of North Pole takes this Christmas stuff seriously.  Many of the main streets have Christmas-y names (like St. Nicholas Drive, Santa Claus Lane, and Kris Kringler Drive).  And the street lights are shaped like candy canes.


The Santa Claus House does have reindeer, which I didn't take many pictures of because I was reindeer-ed out from going to the reindeer farm twice in one week.

Also, at the Santa Claus House there are only 3 reindeer.  Which, if I'm following my Santa Claus mythology correctly, is not enough to fly his sleigh.


One cool thing about the House is that it receives letters from children all over the world addressed to Santa.  If you ever have a hankering to write to Santa Claus, send it to the address above.

Your letter might get an illustrious spot on this wall.






The Santa Claus House also has a Santa and a Mrs. Claus.  Who were sadly not there the day we visited.  It was their day off.

I feel a little cheated.  Because I wanted to meet Santa and tell him what I wanted for Christmas.

You know, like a puppy and a nice pair of boots and for the Afghan Whigs to get back together.  And a trip to India.  And for everyone I love to be safe and happy.

But no, it was Santa's day off.  I guess even Santa needs a day off.

I'm glad I went though, and if you ever find yourself in the Fairbanks area, pay the Santa Claus House a visit.

A Seal A Day...

... keeps the blues away.




Seriously, this harbor seal could save anyone from even the foulest of moods, just be chasing its flipper-tail.








His other seal companion seems less enthused, however, choosing to sleep and ignore Spotty's antics.

Bacon-palooza

I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and I'm sure the 2-3 of you who read my blog are dying to know more about what other wonderful things there are in Alabama.  Besides the adorable dog.  


Well, part of my Alabama experience, though not necessarily indicative of the typical Alabama experience, involved... bacon.





The night that I arrived, Corianne and her roommates threw a big party.  Instead of picking a single theme to the party, they instead picked several.  


The party would have tie-dye.  





The party would have a water balloon fight.  





And, probably most importantly of all, the party would have bacon.

A bacon-themed cooking competition, actually.


The above-pictured gold spray-painted rubber pig was the prize to be awarded to the one who most effectively and creatively incorporated bacon into their dish.


I made bourbon bacon brownies, from this recipe that I found.  This is the batter.  I actually think they turned out pretty well.





Corianne made a bacon turtle cheesecake (which sadly I could not try because it had nuts in it).





One of the most popular entries were these bacon-topped cupcakes.





They were so delicious, even this ball pyton was tempted by them. Don't ask me why someone brought a python to a party. That's just how they roll in Alabama, I guess. The snake was very cute and chill though, as far as snakes go. And he was named after some famous Floridian football player whose name escapes me but starts with a 'T'. My mom would probably know. For the sake of this post, I'll just call him 'Snakey'.





Snakey was a huge hit with the ladies.




Anyway, back to the bacon.


These were some kind of delicious fried chicken-bacon balls with a duck sauce to dip them in.


There was also some of your basic, chocolate-covered bacon.



There was a delectable cheesy, corn, bean, bacon dip.



There was some crackers with cheese and bacon-y stuff on top.



And there were these peanut butter bacon cookies. They happened to be the only vegetarian thing available at the party, because of their use of veggie bacon instead of real bacon.



I'll have to admit, my favorites were the bacon-wrapped prunes (much more delicious than it sounds, seriously) and Annie's creation, which were jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.



For this creation, she won the coveted Golden Pig.




The lesson I learned from this party was that, if you open your mind a little, you can add bacon to a lot more foods than you would normally think.

Also, to always check your "douche bag" at the door.