Alaskans are Independent

I am your typical Alaskan. Alaskan's are independent thinkers. We are opinionated but friendly. We seek adventure. We love the sun (of which there has been to little of this year). We get the job done. We are great drivers We have to be to drive on snow and ice 6 months of the year. Most people only get to visit but we are the luckiest people in the world to be able live in a beautiful place. Sometimes I feel like I get caught up in my daily grind and take my surroundings for granted and need to shake myself awake to appreciate where I am.

The last couple of days I haven't been blogging. The sun finally came out and like starving people everyone was outside biking, running, throwing frisbees, flying kites, walking dogs, rolling in the grass with babies, rollerblading, gardening. We were trying to fit an entire summers activity into one day. Today is a bonus day. I don't think we've had two days of sunshine in a row yet this summer. These are the kind of days that we look forward to when we are suffering through the long winter.

It's like working at Disneyland. Everyone around you is having fun but you have to work. Sometimes we just need to set work aside, and pretend we are on vacation, so we can enjoy what this state has to offer. Summer's short, it goes by in a blink, it's time to take a road trip and find more ways to appreciate this beautiful place.

F Street Bar - Downtown Anchorage

Just off the corner of F street and 4th Avenue is a little bar and grill where the locals hang out. It's a great place to catch up with friends and on the weekends is often standing room only.

We love to go on a weeknight when the crowd is lighter thus the bar less smoky. They have the best and I do mean the Best....salmon caesar I have ever tasted. The salmon is seasoned and grilled to perfection. The caesar dressing is layered in garlic so if your sensitive to garlic this may not be the dish for you.

Lake Hood

We live on Lake Hood. It's the busiest float plane base in the world. People ask if the airplanes bother me. They can be noisy at times but I grew up a mile west of O'Hare airport. I like airplane noise. It's not as bothersome as where we used to live. Our last house had a neighbor who let her dog out in the early morning. The dog would proceed to bark, and bark, and bark..... It would wake you up and was very annoying as you never knew when it would end. With the airplanes they may wake you up momentarily but it soon passes and you can go back to sleep.

We have so much daylight in the summers that the planes start taking off about 5-6am on the weekends.

The baby ducks are following their mothers about. It is very relaxing to just sit outside and watch the planes and ducks. We even have a pair of otters that occasionally swim by for a visit.

It's about a 4 mile bike ride/walk around the lake. I will ride my bike unless it's windy then I will walk part way and back.