From farm to fair

On our first night in Anchorage, John and I headed straight for the good stuff--the best pizza place and microbrewery in town--the Moose's Tooth. John approved of the Fairweather IPA, and the 5-cheese pizza met with my approval, which you all should know is really saying something. The next day we puttered around in Anchorage--we briefly scoped out the courthouse, then John hung around in a coffee shop while I started apartment-hunting. We ate a tasty dinner with Jerry and Nancy and their son-in-law Nathan and his daughter Taylor, then blew bubbles with Taylor until we were all worn out.

Breakfast at the Downtown Deli
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

The next day we decided to Be Tourists. We had reindeer sausage and sourdough pancakes at the Downtown Deli, a deli (!) downtown (!) that was once owned by the democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Knowles.


Next stop, the Palmer Musk Ox Farm, about 40 min northeast of Anchorage. I was fully prepared for an obnoxious tourist trap, but it was extremely quaint and pleasant (I can't say as much for all the other patrons, but one must not be too picky). Some fascinating musk ox facts:

• Musk oxen have no musk glands and are not oxen!
• When threatened, musk oxen defend themselves by forming a circle with the biggest strongest bulls facing outward, and the weaker animals protected on the inside of the circle. The only problem? This technique works great for bears and wolves, but makes them easy targets for human hunters.
• Musk oxen can hang out in temperatures of down to -100 degrees fahrenheit!
  

Musk ox
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

At the farm, they used to let the animals play soccer with these giant 500 lb balls, called "pigs," usually used to clean the oil pipelines... until they got too good at it, and started punching holes in fences. Oops. The farm is domesticating the animals in order to harvest Qiviut--the soft under-hairs of the musk ox coat. The hair is spun into this amazing yarn--softer than cashmere--and knit in traditional patterns by the Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers' Co-Operative--a collective made up of native women in remote villages. The yarn is only produced in small quantities, so it and the garments knit from it are seriously rare and expensive. But for my graduation, my aunt Patty gave me two balls of a similar Northern Canadian musk ox yarn... I can't wait to knit it! I want to try to do it in a pattern that resembles one of the native ones, but I don't know if my knitting skills are that advanced yet.

Alaska State Fair | Sign + scenery
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

After deciding not to buy any musk ox-emblazoned garments or keychains, we moved on to the Alaska State Fair. The most amazing and unique thing at the fair was, of course, the array of giant vegetables. The midnight sun is, apparently, good for something other than being able to play frisbee in the street all night! Makes for a pretty awesome growing season.


Also interesting is this phenomenon of clothing lines whose entire purpose seems to be proclaiming how awesome women in Alaska are. The most delightfully bizarre one is this shirt with flowers on it that says "Alaska Women--Organic and Wild" or something like that. I find it slightly creepy. There was also the best fair game ever--Rat Race--where they spun this poor little rodent around on a giant wheel and you bet on which little hole she was going to crawl into. Cruel? Maybe. Amusing? Absolutely. I love rodents.

My other favorite part of the fair was the 4H projects. Particularly awesome were a tin-foil-and-button-robot and Bob: A Rooster of Many Talents.