Anchorage: Day 1

First of all, thank you to all of my Bethel friends who take such good care of me!  I owe you all big!

I flew on the morning jet into Anchorage this morning.  Figuring out what time to get to the airport was like some bizarre math problem, but luckily I got it figured out and someone was nice enough to bring me to the airport.  It was snowing when I left Bethel!  It didn't stick, but it was blowing pretty hard.  Because of the snow there wasn't much to see from the plane, but right before Anchorage the clouds broke so you could see mountains and glaciers and lakes nestled in the valleys.

You can't really see it, but that's a glacier under the clouds!

After we landed I got my bags and a cab and then the car and dropped my bags off and went over to my VISTA umbrella's office.  My position is under the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development umbrella, and myself and fellow "team" VISTAs are all working on projects that have to do with building economic development, stability and sustainability all around Alaska.  I got to see my VISTA leader Cassie again, the office dog Bex (who as you can probably imagine is now my good friend), and a number of people who work in the office.  It was really nice to meet people face to face and talk to them more about my project.  I got some good ideas for it too!  A bunch of us from the office went to listen to a (sociologist!) author speak about his fieldwork and experiences with the "working poor" and poverty in general.  The talk was interesting, but it was more focused on Anchorage (which was relevant since we were in Anchorage) and there wasn't a lot that applied to Western Alaska.  Always nice to see Sociologists and Anthropologists that have jobs though!

Cassie and I ate lunch at Taco Bell, and then we went for a walk with Mr. Crow (who works in the UACED office) and Bexley at the dog park/university lake.  It was gorgeous.  There were bridges and birch trees with yellow leaves and mountains in the background.  One of the most surprising things was firm ground- I'm used to sinking down into the tundra or the edges of the dirt roads in Bethel.

 I also went to Wal-Mart.  That was an experience!  I can't get over how much cheaper everything is here.  There are a couple of Walmarts here...the one I went to is a super Walmart with a package store and McDonald's inside of it!

The view from the parking lot isn't that bad:

Finished off the night with some Anchorage area VISTA's at a pub.