In honor of our friends Aaron and Sally who recently moved from Alaska to the east coast I have compiled a list of people, places, sayings and activities that are uniquely Alaskan. So when those homesick blues kick in they can refer to the list and remember all this cool Alaskana. Many of you will recognize Sally as my most reliable commentor on this blog. Sally also authors one of the most fabulous blogs on the net called "It's Trivial." Check it out for a good read. Props to Amy, Isaac & Katie for help with the brainstorming.
100+ All Things Alaska
-40°
Aces Hockey
Alaska Airlines
Alaska girls kick @$$
Alaska Grown
Alaska State Fair
alpenglow
Alyeska
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Bear Tooth Grill
Big. Wild. Life
black spruce trees
blueberry picking
bore tide
Breakup
Bristol Bay
Buddy Bailey
Carharts
caribou
Carrs-Safeway
Cheechako/Sourdough
Chena Hot Springs
Chilkoot Charlies
Chugach State Park
Copper River Reds
Defense of Life and Property
Denali
dipnetting
do, do, do…do, the lighting gallery
Earthquake Park
Eklutna
Exxon Valdez
fireweed
Frank Murkowski
Frostbite Footrace
full-curl, broomed or 8 years old
Fur Rendevous
Giant cabbage competitions
Girdwood
Glacier Brewhouse
Glacier Pilots baseball
Hatcher Pass
Heather Lende
Hiking Flattop
Hobo Jim
ice art competitions
Ice fog
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
Iron Dog
Jay Hammond
Jeff Lowenfells
Kaladi Bro’s Coffee
Kenai River
Kikkan Randal
Kincaid Park
Lance Mackey
land of the midnight sun
Matanuska Glacier
Mattress Ranch commercials
Mike Dugan
Moose’s Tooth Pizza
Moose-dropping festival
Mount Marathon
Mount Redoubt
Mr. Whitekey’s Fly By Night Club
muktuk
Muldoon
Nanooks
Native Corporations
Nenana Ice Classic
New Seward Highway
North to the future
Palmer-Wasilla
Permanent Fund Dividend
Point Woronzof
Portage Glacier
Prince William Sound
Prudhoe Bay
Resurrection Pass
Rosie Fletcher
Running with the reindeer
Russian River
Sarah Palin
Scott Gomez
Seawolves
Set-netting
Ski for Women
Snow City Café
snow machines (as opposed to snow mobile)
Spenard
spike-fork-50
Steve, Amy & Autumn
subsistence hunting
Sullivan Arena
Susan Butcher
Taco King
Talkeetna
Tanana River
Ted Stevens
termination dust
The Alcan Highway
The Arctic Circle
The Bush
The Haul Road
The Lower 48/Outside
The Mad Fishicist
The milepost
The North Slope
The Peninsula
Theresa Obermeyer
Tony Knowles Coastal Trail
Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Tudor and Lake Otis
Tundra
Turnagain Pass
Whittier
Willow ptarmigan
Winner Creek Trail
XtraTufs
Yukon River
12 comments:
Buddy Bailey! Gah! Funniest one on the list. Because no one that hasn't lived in Alaska for a long, long while would know how hilarious even the mention of his name is.
And speaking of Buddy B, one of our friends ordered a futon from Bailey's and it was unreasonably late in arriving. So they kept calling and calling and getting lame answers about when it was going to come in. So they called again and someone answered and told them it had not arrived in the new shipment so this friend asked to speak with a manager about the issue. Turns out he was directed to Buddy Bailey himself. Buddy proceeded to tell them that their futon was in the order that just arrived and would soon in the warehouse... even though the person they had just spoken to told them the opposite.
The point of this long, boring story is that Buddy Bailey lied. It wasn't on the shipment or going to the warehouse and it certainly wasn't delivered soon.
Whatever buddy Bailey.
Loved the list. When I miss AK unbearably, I will consult it and cry while listening to Hobo Jim, wearing my XtraTufs and eating salmon.
And speaking of... I'm adding Salmon as 101. It so deserves a place on that list. :)
Thanks for the excellent shout-out from the Steve, Amy and Autumn camp. Every blogger loves to be noticed. :)
Salmon got lot's of love in the list, Copper River reds, dipnetting and setnetting.
You're welcome, it was fun thinking up the list.
Pilot Bread
Devil's Club
Mosquitos
I suppose that's true. :) And I do love to dip-net. Me never being able to dip-net for a long, long potentially never while is a big bummer about the move.
Also, add Termination Dust to the list.... Alaskans are nuts about termination dust. Leah just called me to tell me about it... on her drive to school. haha
Yes. Termination dust is a must-add to the list. It is a very big deal, especially when winters occupy 2/3 of the calendar!!
Also, I love that you added pilot bread. Apparently there was a rumor that the company that makes pilot bread was going out of business and they were inundated by worried Alaskan phone calls! Apparently Alaskans buy 98% of what they make. The other 2% is bought by Japanese for their earthquake stockpile. There was an awesome article in the ADN (I know, can you believe it?) a year or two ago.
Add to the list:
Clam digging
Birch bark tea
Block heaters
Polar bear plunge
Ok, so looking at this list and the suggestions I have to add my 2 cents. Carharts are not just an Alaskan thing. Pretty popular down here in "Orygun." I saw the suggestion of "Salmon." We have those too, just not the quantities and ours have one less fin normally. Someone also suggested "clam digging." This goes on all the time here and I just discovered recently how much fun it is.
the interior
turnagain belugas
party world
bp building
russian orthodox architecture
mat maid
potter marsh
great harvest bread
Termination dust was in the original list. Leah, you're right about Pilot Bread. I remember that story in the ADN. Block heater is my favorite suggestion so far.
Scotty, how can you even say Alaskan salmon and Oregon salmon in the same breath. There is no comparison. Salmon is a whole culture unto itself here. You may be right about carharts, but I never really noticed them until I got to Alaska, particularly SE.
Well you just mentioned them in the same breath smarty pants.
Did someone say 'architecture'? I don't know much about Russian Orthodox. I don't even remember it being covered it Arch History. How sad.
Doh!
spawned out salmon stink
high bush cranberry stink
my dog rolled in moose guts stink
spruce bark beetles
i never took arch. history, but i wouldn't associate the specific and peculiar design of those houses of worship with anything other than russian orthodoxy, especially in a discussion of all things alaskan.
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