24 Hours in Alaska

Wow! A friend of mine said, "It's not the number of breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away that count." Alaska takes my breath away.

An 11 hour trip from Atlanta to Anchorage, but uneventful. I went directly from the airport to a liquor store so that I could sit in my room and enjoy a glass of wine, or a little peach vodka. Then off to the Hilton Garden Inn to unpack and get settled in.

The view from my hotel room

Today I reported to work and went through security training which was a bit unique. Big companies like BP, ExxonMobil, or Merck have standard security training that you have to go through in order to get a badge, and the Alaska BP office is no different...except that the mandatory safety video included, "If there are moose on the campus, we will alert you with signs in the parking lot."

What I've learned about Alaska so far:

• The amount of daylight and dark changes about 5 minutes every day, all year long. Right now, the sun comes up at 6am and sets at 10pm.
• Alaska's economy is basically based on tourism and the Oil and Gas industry.
• There are VERY few roads in all of Alaska (like three) but they have the most active bush-pilot industry in all the world...which makes sense since the VAST majority of Alaska is only accessible via bush pilot.
• There are no oil platforms in the Beaufort Sea, as in the Gulf of Mexico. Rather, there are man-made islands that they put oil wells on, because when the ice flows come, the platforms would be destroyed.
• There are no Eskimos in Alaska - Eskimos are in Canada. There are different tribes in Alaska but they are known as Native Alaskans. 
• The price of gasoline is $3.75 per gallon and there are no CVS pharmacies in Anchorage.

After work, I found a yarn shop - a crack house! In Alaska, you can buy Musk Ox yarn for $178 per skein - REALLY! The native Alaskans gather the under-fur from the Musk Ox in the spring when they shed and turn it into yarn. From this yarn, they make beautiful lace scarves that are several times warmer than wool and cost $250.

I'm still not on this time zone (4 hours earlier than Eastern time) but I'm getting a little bit better. Thank God for sleeping pills. There's a pool and exercise room in the hotel, but to be honest, I'm too tired to go just yet. I'm hoping to at least visit the pool later this week. Tomorrow is another day.