Extreme Cuisine with Rose and John – Anchorage
ANCHORAGE – Nice hospitality Saturday night from my host family, Rose and her husband John.
The pair work at Paramount Cycles in Anchorage. Rose hails from El Roy, Wisconsin. “Yes, I know (former Wis. governor) Tommy Thompson,” said Rose. “His mother was my teacher in grade school.”
Rose came to Alaska more than seven years ago with her husband, who was originally from Utah.
“You’ll find a lot of Midwestern transplants up here,” she said.
I met Rose online while looking for a place to stay in Anchorage. (I was discouraged by the drug -and-bedbug reviews I found while researching the local youth hostels.)
Rose said they normally don’t take in bikers, not a lot anyway, but she felt comfortable with the Wisconsin connection and was impressed with the tour’s effort to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s.
“My mom has Alzheimer’s and she’s the same age as your dad,” said Rose, having done some research on me by reading this blog.
“It’s amazing what passes for memory care these days,” said Rose, frustrated. “We’re paying for hands-on care and activities and we’re just not getting it.”
John and Rose live in a house at the corner of Apollo Court and Apollo Drive. “We’re the only house half-covered with siding and the other with Tyvex,” she laughed, referencing their ongoing fix-it project that had taken over their lives.
“It all started with a mouse our cat chased into a crack in the living room,” said John. “I tore up the carpet and one thing led to another and the floor buckled and we had to jack up the wall near the foundation…”
Neither spoke negatively about the overwhelming construction; both were patient, do-it-yourselfers that knew the project would get done when they finished.
Casual conversation that evening at the kitchen table ran the gamut – mostly about biking and adventure, bears, New Zealand, and family – in no particular order.
Rose sat with a glass of red wine; John cooked.
His presentation was amazing. A simple salad with mixed greens, halved grape tomatoes, thin wedges of avocado, fresh basil, chopped zucchini and a couple spears of cucumber with a peanut oil dressing.
Dinner was a salmon wrap. The spices forced a teary-eyed Rose to crack the window. The tight wrap was more than an inch thick and included dark beans, rice, some random vegetables and chili spices.
“My mom was not a mac-and-cheese kind of person,” said John.
Salad and an “IPA.”
John… Dinner is served!
The next morning, over a hot cup of pressed coffee, John was at it again making a breakfast omelet with cubed pieces of salmon topped with a fan of avocado. There was a side of thin wheat toast and a spoon for the jar of homemade blueberry jelly.
Rose spooning up some homemade blueberry jelly.
Day two of the tour would start with a 40-mile trek to Girdwood.
Farmer’s Market – Alaskan Style
Up the road from Gwennie’s Restaurant in Anchorage, AK was a Saturday Farmers’ Market with a beautiful array of fresh vegetables, flowers, and honey.
There was also homemade jellies in glass jars – the brilliant colors of sugary spread glistened in the sun; red rhubarb, a soft yellow pineapple mint and a blurry orange jar of carrot-raisin marmalade.
The corner market was also infused with a young entrepreneurial spirit. A twenty-something woman named Kate sold cucumber and rhubarb popsicles from a Franken bike which she said was designed by a friend. The lime-green three wheeler carried a small box cooler and a handmade sign that read ‘Popcycle.’
Kate selling frozen $3 treats at Popcycle.
There was also a 12-year-old boy who set up a card-table storefront at the entrance to the market. Grayson made Alaskan survival bracelets. It was a fashion statement with a safety them; think Davey Crockett meets Martha Stewart.
The bracelets were a thick red-and-black weave of style that could also be used in an emergency – say if you’re lost in the cold tundra or wilderness. The clasp on the bracelet could be unhinged and a short flint used to scrape a pencil stub of metal and spark fire.
For those instances where kindling is scarce, the weave of the bracelet could be pulled apart. The shredded twine had been covered in a paraffin wax and was super flammable.
Grayson Davey teaches potential customer John Paul the strategy of sparking fire with a $35 Alaskan Survivor Bracelet.
Quail eggs $4 a dozen.
Fresh bakery stand
Side notes:
-First day on tour I managed 34.41 miles – just getting the feel of Anchorage.
-The weather is much cooler than I anticipated, after hearing reports of a 90-degree heat wave the past few weeks.
– I wore earmuffs much of the day along with long spandex biking pants and my neck gator.
– Sunset in Alaska is 11:59.
– The terrain in the city of Anchorage is rather flat with some minor hills and you can see the mountains in the distance.
– When people ask about the ride and I get to the part about Alzheimer’s, I’m surprised by how many people have their own story of a family member affected by the disease.
– A gallon of regular unleaded is $3.89.
– My plan is to head south to Homer and I have no idea on how long this will take – come on people, I’m on vacation!
Mapping My “Quest” to Girdwood from Anchorage
First leg of the ride is underway! Currently pedaling to Girdwood
A Toast to New Friends!
“Ina” at the Ted Stevens Airport in Alaska going over the best way to pedal out of the airport.
Part of the ambiance from Gwennie’s Restaurant (see post below), about 1 mile south of the airport in Anchorage. Great breakfast with Eina and her family – my new friends in Alaska!
Anchorage Museum
Groovy bridge near downtown Anchorage. (Note the fishing theme….)
Anchorage with a little “Alaskan Nice” and Breakfast at Gwennie’s
ANCHORAGE – Touchdown at the Ted Stevens Anchorage InternationalAirport in Anchorage was at 3 a.m. Saturday following a five-hour flight from Denver. The adventure included an unscheduled one-hour delay because of severe cloud-to-cloud lightning, an impromptu refueling and a sanity-testing, 59-minute wait on the tarmac while 30 other planes (also delayed) queued up ahead of us.
Ina in Baggage Claim at the Anchorage airport was there to help with some conversation therapy at 4:30 a.m. offering an easy bicycle route out of the airport.
She also was ‘Alaskan nice’ and invited me to breakfast after she got off work at 7 a.m.
We met at Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant which was the perfect non-franchise venue of history mixed with genuine “way-up-nort” hospitality and huge portions of everything.
Their slogan should have included something like ‘enough food to feed a mining camp’ or ‘a to-go box with every meal.’
Located on Spenard Road about two-miles north of the airport, I pedaled over and met Eina, her husband, Lou, and three-year-old son.
Ina, 26, was Samoan. She was born in Hawaii, moved to Houston, TX in grade school, visited Alaska after high school and stayed after she met her husband, who was also Samoan.
The layout at our table included little room for condiments much less bad manners because the buttermilk pancakes were as big as a baby’s head and the waffles were the size of a checkerboard. There were heaps of scrambled eggs and (Did I mention what happens to Santa’s engine during the off season?) reindeer sausage.
A breakfast of scrambled eggs, side dish of salsa, hashbrowns,
small fresh orange wedge, and two dark pieces of inch thick sourdough toast.
Actually, I passed on the reindeer sausage when the waitress refused to budge on the special side-order price of $13. (I didn’t want the whole deer – just a link.) She stood her ground, so I figured I’d come across a more accommodating morsel somewhere later down the road. No reindeer sausage for you!
Gwennie’s was a two-story restaurant filled with Alaskan heritage. A giant stuffed-bison head overlooked our table – I must say it was a little too close for comfort.
There were gold mining pans and newspaper clippings on the wall that included details of the former owner who ran a gambling place /whorehouse at the site.
From 1972 – 1981 the Pagoda was a quiet tea room on the first floor with serious revenue generated on the second.
A framed article at the entrance said the working girls ‘didn’t look like typical prostitutes. They wore Sorrel boots and a big jacket over jeans and sweatshirts. They really don’t get too dressed up for the job.’
Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant
Feeling a Little “Alaska” Out Here…..
Got my map out. Getting my bearings at 3 a.m.
Stepped outside – it’s a little cool.
Alaska outside….
Welcome to Alaska!
Landed safely at 3 a.m. Alaskan time. Found a map.
Getting my bearings and assembling my transportation for the next three weeks.
All my bags are packed…I’m ready to go – literally!
All packed. Waiting on my front stoop for my ride.
Flight leaves at 6:10 p.m.
I’m SO ready!
Last minute frenzy – Plane departs Friday 6:10 p.m.
Tying up loose ends.
Helpful directions from experienced Alaskan traveler Shirley Schoenike
I am TOTALLY amazed how many people are already following the tour. My phone has been ringing off the hook with well wishes and prayers.
Mostly prayers and mostly prayers about bears. Which sounds very Dr. Seuss, I know.
I spent a majority of the afternoon with my neighbors Jack and Shirley Schoenike. I didn’t know they lived down the road – they heard about the tour and sought me out. They’ve been to Alaska about a half-dozen time and invited me over to map.
Shirley suggested I set aside five hours – we got it done in three.
I envy their tours, just a little bit. They’re not bikers but lean towards a luxury motor home.
Jack drives and Shirley has ninja-like mapping skills. Her Milepost was missing the back cover, had notes between the columns and scribbled on large bodies of water, and red-and-orange circles highlighted some memorable attractions. See below.
The couple set me up with eight pages of typed instructions outlining the areas I would likely visit. The notes were specific, color coded with red-pen asterisks and yellow highlighted sentences, and more handwritten notes in the margin.
Homer – Salty Dawg Saloon (interesting) or Centennial Park – $25 showers and flush toilets or Whittier Tunnel – ***NO BIKES*** (Tunnel Manager M-F 907-472-2584)
Shirley was connected – – she could seriously sell these Cliff Notes on Amazon!
While it’s been a hot mad-dash scramble this past week things are pretty much on course. My friends have been checking in expressing concern about my packing skills, my timeline and my sanity.
In a T-minus-24-hours-til-liftoff conversation with my mother she appears confident to hold down the fort. She had no questions other than to tell me my lawn looks shaggy, I should really cut it before I go and do I ever plan to finish painting my front porch?
This from the woman who would wipe the drops out of the sink before she went on vacation.
My good friend Lisa took the day off work Friday just to take me to the airport. We’re leaving between noon and 1 p.m.
My flight leaves at 6:10 p.m. I know, eye roll, who would have EVER pegged me for a nervous traveler.
The correct answer is nobody.