o/~ On the Road to Anchorage o/~

delroland

There is a very strong possibility that work will be sending me to Alaska for two weeks (including air fare, hotel, car rental, and per diem) on Monday or Tuesday, so I have a few questions:

1) How much warm weather clothes should I bring? Like, should my luggage be 90% sweaters and such? Half and half?

2) Where are the good hang-outs and cheap eateries in and around Anchorage?

3) What's the best brand of bear repellent? :P

4) I'll need a computer, so should I grab a netbook or laptop? Which one? (Windows only please.) --edit: Beyond word/excel/etc. I'll just be installing the D&D Character Builder and maybe after I get back WoW.

5) Anything else I should know?

Boutros

You really shouldn't need a sweater, but maybe a jacket for like, rain. It was high 50s and a bit rainy today, but it has been pretty nice lately, up into the 70s I think. 70s is considered quite warm here, by the way.

I think you should go to the Moose's Tooth, it's basically the best place ever. They have great pizza and they brew some damn good beers. It is always always busy though, it's just too awesome.

If you wander around Bicentennial Park late at night, bears are a real concern, but if you don't you'll be fine. But if you decide to go for a walk on our bike trails, especially the coastal trail, there is an amazingly high chance that you find yourself in close proximity to a moose. Most of the time they are cool and will let you walk/ride past on the far side of the trail, but if there are multiple moose or especially if there are babies just turn around.

Seeks

1) I've only visited Anchorage myself (Fairbanks dweller), but you shouldn't need anything more than a jacket. Imagine a place like Seattle or Portland, basically that sort of weather.

2) No idea. I just stuck with the big names or random, might-as-well-not-have-a-name eateries.

3) The best brands of bear repellent are typically Smith & Wesson or Ruger. Failing that, just pick something up from one of the big sportsman warehouse type places.

4) Given what you're going to be doing, I'd go with a laptop personally. Computationally, a notebook will probably work just fine, but the screen real estate on a laptop will be much better for the D&D thing and WoW. Unless you plan on taking it with you literally everywhere; in that case, a notebook may be better.

5) Nothing I can think of honestly.

skettios

I'm gonna second moose's tooth. Or if you can, bear tooth: moose's tooth food + movie

Karrmer

The bear repellant pepper sprays work very well but you likely won't need it. Beautiful place, have fun!

mbannick

Well I moved to Anchorage a few summers ago thinking it may be a fun place to live for a while. As it turns out it wasn't really a place I would live. Anyway while I was up there it was one of the coldest summers on record (lots of rainy overcast days) but the locals assured me it wasn't the norm. What I would suggest is:

1.) A decent coat (nothing like -30 degree weather but something for a colder rainy day) also some long sleeve shirts just in case (check the forecast for an idea of the weather before you go, but it can change quickly)

2.) The arctic roadrunner is pretty decent (burgers/fries) but a little expensive since its kind of a tourist spot. Also, I would have to agree with the other guys with the mooses tooth, and bears tooth (they show movies at certain times so it will be quite full around those times.) and why hasn't anyone mentioned taco king? Once you get past the looks of the place it's quite good (my friend and I ate there a lot while we were there.) There is also a burger place near downtown that is also quite good but I can't remember the name of it right now. Anything else is a random assortment of hole in the wall places but I never really went to most of them. There is also a mall on northern lights boulevard that has a little ice rink that you can skate in (or watch other people fall down which is fun in itself).

3.) Most sporting goods stores sell what is essentially bear mace (which I heard actually works in some situations) But what you should do is be aware of where you are and use caution (most places have signs posted about wildlife in the area but most of the city has quite a wildlife problem (bears eating trash, moose are pretty much everywhere, etc.). As worried as you are about bears keep in mind moose actually hurt more people than bear, and are a much more common sight around the city (we walked right into a mother and her baby while walking down a road, and had a few living behind our house.).

4.) This ones up to you. If you think you will have use for a laptop afterward go for that, but if you're just going to use it for the trip go with a netbook (unless you MUST play games that are more powerful than solitare :P)

5.) Anchorage is a "city" in Alaska standards but for anyone from the lower 48 it's not all that big (maybe 45 min drive from downtown to the airport which is on the outskirts of the city so there isn't much to do around the city unless you like to drink. In which case there are a good amount of bars around and that's about it. If you feel like getting outside the city there are a few places just outside that are pretty fun (flattop mountain, powerline trail, hidden lake, and alot of trails around the area.) Also, if you're willing to pay a little money you can take the Alaska railroad somewhere (Seward and Homer are really just tourist spots, but you get to see a lot of cool sights along the way.)

There is probably more but I can't really remember much that stood out to me when I was there.

Boutros

The mall with the ice rink is the Dimond Center, on Dimond Boulevard, not Northern Lights.

Arctic Roadrunner is a decent burger and the Arctic location is a lot less busy and touristy than the Old Seward Location. But the best burger in town by far is Tommy's Burger Stop. Beware though, it is a tiny hole in the wall with almost no seating, located in the not-so-nice neighborhood of Spenard. Worth it though.

Taco King is indeed good, I second that as I go there all the time.

For breakfast I like Cafe Amsterdam, Snow City Cafe, and Middle Way Cafe. Snow City is stupidly busy with tourists in the summer though, since it is downtown.

Kaladi Brothers is where you want to get your coffee. They have locations all over town and make good americanos.

There are a few bars in town that aren't total shitholes. McGinley's is probably my favorite of the downtown bars. Humpy's is pretty great when not busy, but it is usually very busy. F street has extremely attractive waitresses. The Snow Goose is not a great restaurant, and their in-house brewery is pretty bad, but the bar upstairs is not a bad place to drink, and they have decent burgers. Avoid Chilkoot Charlies and 95% of the other non-downtown bars.

mbannick

Ah, that's the name of that burger place I was thinking about (they make em in "rolls" instead of buns) and yeah the neighborhood was pretty terrible with a lot of homeless people drinking on the street. Also the diamond center is the place (its a bus terminal too). Kaladi brothers seemed like a nice coffee place (kinda like starbucks of Alaska I suppose) But I don't really drink coffee. There is also this diner place right next to the marriott in downtown that isn't too terrible either. If you're interested in some of the trails I think there is a place on 4th street where the buses will take you out to some of the closer ones till around 7pm. Can't remember exactly though.

Noquar

Bring a light waterproof/repellent jacket.

Momma O's for great halibut sandwiches. Birchtree, Leroy's, Jackies Place, and Peggys for greasy spoon. If you get a sushi hair, go for Sushi & Sushi near Moose's Tooth. Moose/Bear tooth make great brews as well.

delroland

Wanted to give everyone an update: my bosses realized they had shallow pockets and decided it was too expensive to send someone from Oakland to Anchorage on such short notice, so the job has been nixed.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, though. If I ever find myself up that way in the future, I hope to take advantage of them.