Today seemed like a great day to start grounding my feet further into the Alaskan soil so I headed to the mall to set up my new cell phone to work in bush Alaska. Yes they do allow cell phones to work out here despite the recent thought that soup cans were used. My phone is not much different than my HTC EVO so there are high hopes of keeping my phone life somewhat the same!
I had my phone and new number so off to the food court I went. As I ascended up the escalator the first shop I spotted was "Taco King" and I briefly thought my Alaskan food adventure would have to wait until tomorrow...but for two tacos, beans and rice for $9.95, I decided to keep looking. I did find the Hawaiian BBQ and ordered garlic salmon for only $7.00, not really sure why I thought this was strange but maybe I'm just too used to Taco Bell and its prices. :)
I continued my adventure downtown to see all the touristy stuff and ran into one of the Iditarod Race pioneers, Rod Perry. We chatted for a long time about how to properly enter into a village of people all of a different culture than that of my own. He suggested not to come on too strong and always say "yes" to tea (which means food). People for many years have come together over meals and there isn't much different from that now. He was a valuable stop on my downtown excursion and I was very lucky to run into him at his stand he had set up to sell his books. I plan to find him at the market tomorrow and buy one.
I finished looking at all the trinket stores and headed back to my hotel where I made the final decision that I MUST go golfing in Alaska at a very odd time for "normal" golf. So, I called and set up a tee-time for 9:30pm...and called a taxi. My cab driver gave me a little insight on his thoughts of where I was headed and none of which were positive. I didn't get worried but realized that what I am doing isn't for everyone so I need to continue to have an open mind before I make a decision on how I feel.
He dropped off at the golf course and there I was checking in for a tee-time for one...once again a very strange feeling but so glad I stepped out of my comfort box because this was amazing. The course was very nice and here I was golfing at almost ten at night and it only felt like 6 at the latest. I put my rental clubs and 6 golfballs in the cart and off I went to the first tee box where I had to stop my adventure and wait....for a foursome that clearly didn't know how to golf :-S
So I took my time but just like in Princess Bride where they felt like a ship was creeping up on them I felt that presence behind me as another solo golfer was moving in on me an my space. I invited him to join me, so there I golfed with a complete stranger. I had a great time with Jake (business guy from Utah) who also decided that it was necessary to golf in Alaska at a "strange" time of night.
This last picture was me looking back at the ninth hole at 11:32pm. Incredible is one way to describe how that felt to finish a round of golf that close to midnight and still be able to see!
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