Day Two - Anchorage

I had a pretty decent sleep but thought I would have a cruisy day today while I acclimatise, both to the cold and driving on my own.  So after two cups of passable coffee from my room supply, I headed to the nearby Walmart to get something for breakfast.  I decided not to bring Dora this trip, she doesn't have US maps, and I was too cheap to buy them as I will only need them for a week and I don't plan to venture too far.  So Google Maps is telling me where to go, and doing a pretty good job of it so far.  I was convinced she was wrong this morning, but it was my sense of direction that was 180 degrees out of whack.
By now it was about 11am so I bought a chicken wrap for lunch and scoffed it in the car, and then headed to the Alaskan Mountaineering and Hiking shop in search of insulated pants.  I wasn't able to get them in my size in NZ, and figured there would be plenty of choice here.  Not so, they either have Small, which I am not, or 2XL - 5XL, which I am also not.
I headed in to Downtown Anchorage to hunt out Big Ray's recommended by Chris as the place to buy pants and handwarmers etc  Lots of the streets in Downtown were closed off for the Fur Rondy but I eventually found a park and walked the rest of the way.

The next week or so is full of activity, the Fur Rondy (short for Rondezvous) has been happening since 1935 and represents the pioneering spirit of Alaskans.  There is about 50 Rondy round town events offering wacky winter fun for all ages.  Out House races - get out your porta-potties, strap on some skis and race them done 4th avenue to prove you are King or Queen of the throne.   You get the idea.

It's Saturday here and there are lots of people out and about.  There's a fair-ground with vomit inducing rides, horse and cart rides, and small horse rides for the kids.  The horses seem to have pretty thick hair, I guess they are accustomed to the cold.


They have icicles hanging off their facial hair though.


I'm wearing 3 woollen layers on my top half plus my big thick down jacket and am plenty warm.  Wearing woollen long johns under my jeans, and it's passable because I'm walking around.  Ditto my feet are warm enough with wool sox and wool in-soles in my walking boots.  

Downtown Anchorage


There was a fur auction happening, otter, beaver, fox that I could see advertised.  No, I didn't buy anything.

Fur auction
I caught a little of the dog sled racing.  They close off the street and bring in extra snow.

The dog sled drivers are called Mushers - this comes from the drivers calling "mush" to urge the dogs on.  Originally recorded in the 1860's as Mouche but believed to have originated from the French word Marche.


Musher's trucks with cubby's for the dogs.
I stocked up on handwarmers at Big Ray's, but still no pants.  I checked out North Face, but still no pants.  Small sizes or extra large, nothing in between.  By now my parking has expired, so I headed home via a 2nd Big Ray's store (still no pants).
The weather forecast is showing snow fall tonight and possibly until Sunday evening, between 5-8 inches, so I decided to get some eats in so that I don't have to venture out tomorrow if I'm not feeling brave enough.

I was interested to note that as you pay for your things at Walmart, it takes a photo of you.  I guess a fraud prevention thing.
Quite a bit of snow and ice on the roads
And plowed snow piled high at the Walmart car park

As it left the motel it was just starting to snow, and it got heavier while I was out and is still snowing now, as I am tucked up in my cosy room catching up on the blog.
I think it will be an evening in front of the telly and watching the snow accumulate outside.


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