Alaska Wild Football

That’s the name of our local football team in case you’re wondering, and last night I attended my first game at the Sullivan Arena. The IFL (Intense Football League) was founded in 2003, and Anchorage has one of the three (of 9) teams located outside Texas. Since they play in a smaller stadium, it is more personal, and I feel particularly involved since the Petroleum Club recently had their 2nd meet-and-greet. I won four tickets at this event, which motivated me at attend a game, now in it’s second year. By the way, the team colors are maroon and gold, but I couldn’t duplicate it on the blog, so just trying to get close.

The parking lot was pretty full when I arrived, and there were several tailgate parties going on. The playing field is only 50 yards, but I felt the biggest problem was the sidelines which have boards (not unlike hockey) only a foot out-of-bounds, and the players frequently hit them hard and climb over into the attendees. There are just 8 players on a team, and sometimes it seems crowded out there.

The cheerleaders were quite outstanding. Of course, they’re good looking and well costumed, but their dances/cheers were obviously well rehearsed and real crowd pleasers. The opponents were the San Angelo Stampede Express and lost pretty bad… but it was good entertainment, nonetheless, and a great way to spend the evening.

Alaska Wild

That’s the name of our local football team

That’s the name of our local football team in case you’re wondering, and last night I attended my first game at the Sullivan Arena. The IFL (Intense Football League) was founded in 2003, and Anchorage has one of the three (of 9) teams located outside Texas. Since they play in a smaller stadium, it is more personal, and I feel particularly involved since the Petroleum Club recently had their 2nd meet-and-greet. I won four tickets at this event, which motivated me at attend a game, now in it’s second year. By the way, the team colors are maroon and gold, but I couldn’t duplicate it on the blog, so just trying to get close.

The parking lot was pretty full when I arrived, and there were several tailgate parties going on. The playing field is only 50 yards, but I felt the biggest problem was the sidelines which have boards (not unlike hockey) only a foot out-of-bounds, and the players frequently hit them hard and climb over into the attendees. There are just 8 players on a team, and sometimes it seems crowded out there.

The cheerleaders were quite outstanding. Of course, they’re good looking and well costumed, but their dances/cheers were obviously well rehearsed and real crowd pleasers. The opponents were the San Angelo Stampede Express and lost pretty bad… but it was good entertainment, nonetheless, and a great way to spend the evening.

Tacoma Sights

April 11, 2008 . . .
Flying into Seattle – Tacoma Airport always feels like I’m almost home. Most flights out of Anchorage do stop here, but for me, this was a nice weekend to spend with an old friend. VP is an entrepreneur, who has several businesses, factories, importing things going on at the same time, and he handles them well. After a quick tour of this operation, we had a great steak dinner at home. There is a great ‘farmer’s market’ kind of place . . . oh, to load up groceries to take back to Anchorage. . . . especially produce, which is hard to find here at any price.
The following morning, we walked from the warehouse a few blocks to view the Daffodil Parade, which had 140 floats, several high school bands, and a festive mood. This is a big day in Tacoma, and I just happened to be there the right time. We also went to the Glass Museum, which houses the works of Dale Chihuly, and Lino Tagliapietra’s work was featured. This was beautiful beyond description, and it is housed in an inverted steel dome, with glassblowing demonstrations going on during the day. The weather was also perfect, and continued until I left, when the popular drizzle started. However, I brought the good weather back to Anchorage with me, as it was beautiful when I got back. Well, this is a quick synopsis of my 12 days out of Alaska. Actually, I hope the reader is just one of my friends I’m sending this to, rather someone searching for something spectacular . . .. I’m just a simple girl.

Peninsula Visit

April 8, 2008 . . .
It was time to visit further down the peninsula, so I phoned my friends that I was ready to come out, and took Bart again, this time to the South. The last stop was pretty close to ML, and a phone call was all I needed to have him pick me up within minutes. Since BL was in an exercise class, we decided to drive home the long way. This meant going down the coast to Half Moon Bay, to view this couple’s first home in the Bay Area. It was a beautiful drive as the weather was warm and sunny. This is a more desirable part of California to actually raise a family in, and the homes and gardens were well cared for. The ocean waves were a sight to behold, and the rest of the day was equally enjoyable as we went back into downtown San Francisco for a great dinner at L’Olivier Restaurant, a beautiful dining room on Davis Court, with French antiques, and a quiet, inviting grace, that offered French country style recipes that were classical yet light in calories. Then to a play at the 42nd Street Moon. The Playbill explained that during the 1930’s, the bright lights of Broadway were known as “The 42nd Street Moon,” and this theatre honors the original in NYC. The musical they performed was The Student Gypsy, which had a large cast and the musical accompaniment was only by piano. In this way, the story, characterization, dance, and music could be enjoyed in its purest form.
The following day we went shopping, visiting, and headed back into downtown San Francisco, this time to dinner at Garibaldi’s, then to concert and conversation by a famed pianist, Jeffrey Siegal – The Passion and Poetry of Chopin, in Kanbar Hall of JCC. My short visit was memorable, and I then caught an early morning flight to SEATAC. The next chapter follows.

Flying to San Francisco

April 2, 2008 – After a long flight from Anchorage to San Francisco, I took the shuttle to the downtown hostel at 312 Mason Street.  It’s a great location, just a block from Union Square, and would have been great had they known I was coming.  They didn’t have a reservation for me, altho’ I wrote that I was arriving a day earlier than the Western Region Meeting of Hostelling International.  The elevator was broken, so it meant walking up 4 flights of stairs to my private room.  However, that’s exactly what it was – a room with a bed, no chair, table, bath, lamp . ..  nothing, just a bed.  The toilet and shower were across the hall, and I survived one night there, and moved out, basically to the civic center hostel, which was about 5 long blocks away thru a colorful section of town.  Street people everywhere.  This was unsuccessful, too, so again I moved, and this time it was to a nice small hotel on O’Farrell, where I had private room, bath, shower, TV, telephone, and life got much better.  By this time, our meetings were over, and I was able to ‘do’ part of the town.  I took a nightclub tour one night, which took us to the Cathay House in Chinatown for a nice dinner, and about 8 pleasant folks mostly from the Eastern US.  It also included a tour of north beach, Nob Hill, Treasure Island, and the Embarkadero. 

I went to the S.F. Symphony the second night, which was in the lovely Davies Symphony Hall.  Harry Christophers was conducting Purcell’s Chacony in G Minor, Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, and Handel’s Water Music.  Great program, and audience.

The next night I found Joe Samples was playing at Herbst Hall in the War Memorial, so I went to hear his piano, plus dialogue about life in the 30’s.  This was very pleasant, too.

One day I bought the paper instead of looking at tourist flyers, and found it was opening day of the S.F. Giants Baseball game against the San Diego Padres.  I just had to go, so I took the Muni trolley right to the front door, buying a ticket from a scalper, and getting a great seat between home and 1^st base on the lowest level.  For the opening day, the had a lot of pageantry, including baseball stars from 50 yrs. ago, ie. Willy Mays, riding in 1958 Convertible cars and throwing out baseballs.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and the huge AT&T ball park was filled to capacity.  Prices were a bit high, ie. a bottle of water was $4.75.   After the game I continued on the muni to Fisherman’s Wharf for some Oysters Rockefeller, which made my day complete.  This completes Chapter 1 of my visit, as the next day I went down peninsula to visit friends.