Alaska Do (previous year)
 

I was thinking about Dos, having recently enjoyed the Austin
and (part of the) Japan ones, and noted there's another
Alaska one coming up, See here for details.
This report attempts to demonstrate that one can be sick
as a dog but still enjoy a Do if the thing is set up well.

=

Sadly, somewhere between Williamsport and Newark I managed
to get this massive intractable cough, barely managed by
large doses of medication. Several segment runs on US Air,
not supremely pleasant to begin with, were turned into
sheerest torture, and the other denizens of the various
aircraft, earnestly plying the air currents to such garden
spots as Baltimore and Philadelphia, must have been rather
put off by my snorts and throat clearings. Suffice it to
say that I tried to put myself into an alcoholic and drug
induced trance, over which a discreet curtain may be drawn,
for all of these. I found myself in Newark at the end of a
string of these flights, and the Do trip began in earnest on
a windy late July day.

UA4885 EWR IAD 1010 1140 Q40 4C

My seatmate on this flight was a UA 757/67 first officer
who kept me entertained with tales of the rather bumpy
merger for most of the rather bumpy flight; he didn't seem
overput out by my impertinent questions and potentially
contagious condition. We landed a little late owing to
weather and flow control, and I hobbled down to Fuddrucker's
for a burger (you can get one rare, and it's more meat for
the money than at the otherwise estimable Five Guys) and
then to the LH lounge for drinks and wireless. I prefer the
business lounge downstairs and generally go there. The pours
were generous (a young Middle-Eastern-looking bartender who
pretty clearly didn't himself drink and who had no clue
about what he was pouring) and the boozal quality high.
Snacks were at best interesting, and I was glad to have
had a burger-filled stomach before arriving.

UA1122 IAD SFO 1505 1747 738 7C

It was getting on to boarding time when I arrived at the
gate - the roped lines with the zone labels were flagrantly
ignored, and it was the usual snafu - relevant as my upgrade
had not cleared, and I was battling the masses for overhead
space - the one disadvantage of the bulkhead.

My seatmate, a rather lovely woman of about my years, and I
reflected on how upgrades were harder than ever to come by
(I was #4 in line for 0 seats, she #5) and how - despite
what people say - the flight really is much longer in coach.

I tried to snooze without success. An expired drink coupon
was refused, but a fresh one was found, and Courvoisier
helped ease the discomfort.

UA1257 SFO ANC 1947 2345 738 2AC

I was feeling really rocky, what with the cough and not
having gotten any rest, so I greeted lili at the club with
rather less than the usual enthusiasm. For the hour and
change there I kept counsel with a succession of cups of
pineapple juice and pass-o-guava, while envying lili's
Stag's Leap Artemis Cabernet, which I probably wouldn't
have been able to taste anyway.

Boarding was an unsightly mess, but everyone eventually
got on the plane. A poker-faced bunch of flight attendants.

Despite our crew sort of going through the motions, it was
an enjoyable flight, thanks to the company and a few
iterations of Courvoisier and hot water, not together. The
meal was the Mediterranean snack plate, which I passed on.

Toward the end of the trip there was an unexpected flurry of
activity, almost as if the crew had suddenly heard of a
secret shopper on board. If it weren't so funny it would
have been pathetic.

The Hampton shuttle showed up as soon as we got to the
pickup spot, a record of the welcome sort, and soon (after
trying to get off at the Homewood Suites in my stuporous
state) I was snoring away gratefully.

lili and I had been scheduled on a tour that left before
we were going to arrive at the ADQ airport next day, and we
had tried in vain to juggle things so we could make it;
but given the way I felt I was thankful to be on the later
flight. It turns out that the tours got jiggered around so
everyone eventually got accommodated.

Breakfast was a carbon copy of every other, though the room
was high-ceilingeder than normal. Afterward, the shuttle got
us back expeditiously and dropped us off at the wayleft part
of the airport, which was a section new to me. Spartan
despite a bit of cheap art down the mostly faceless corridor.

7H 888 ANC ADQ 0950 1100 DH8 5EF I think

We were sitting quietly when a familiar face appeared -
LIGrin, on our same flight. A happy chat, interrupted only
by the boarding announcement, which came in a timely manner.
No security to speak of at the ERA gates. Maybe just an ID
check, but if so, just pro forma.

The flight was reasonable, the weather not too bad, but we
were on the wrong side of the plane to see anything.

We got a room at the Best Western Kodiak that had two beds
but no working lock. According to the front desk, they'd
done some work on the doors, but there had been subsidence
from some kind of seismic activity, so the plates and the
bolts didn't match so well; nobody seemed too concerned
about any of this. It turned out not a big deal, as I
spent way too much time there while the rest of the people
gallivanted about. I was feeling about as crappy as I'd
ever felt.

Nonetheless, I dragged my ... to the events. I seriously
considered bailing on the bear-viewing trip, but I'd paid
over $300 for this rare opportunity and wasn't inclined to
miss it.

Subscribing :)

Thanks. This is a short one, though.

The floatplane dock is a ways away from the real airport.
Shuttle by Luth was provided. Our trip started off on the
wrong foot as lili managed to trip over something on the
dock (about 4/10s of a second after one of the staff had
said "be sure not to trip on the ____"). To give a modest
facsimile of an excuse, we'd just been issued waders to
slog around in and were still getting the hang of walking
in these.

lili, GrjApp, myself, and the pilot in this DHC-2 Beaver.
Also someone in the front seat, I forget who, but he was
sharp eyed and asked lots of mostly pertinent questions.
He reminded me a lot of cova, but he wasn't. Sorry for
the lack of proper identification, but to be fair, I was
in a state of near torpor when I got on the plane.

As it was as clear and windless a day as they'd seen in
quite some time, the pilot decided, with our enthusiastic
consent, to deviate from the planned itinerary and to fly
us down the backbone of the island, through to some inlets
where there had been recent whale sightings, and then to
the bear sighting area we'd been assigned to, Frazer Lake.

The ride down the center of the island was one of the most
spectacular I've ever been on. We were mostly at a couple
thousand feet AGL and even I could enjoy the rock formations
and glacier-surrounded mountaintops. After which we went
down to an inlet I believe on the western side, where there
is a fish cannery, and at which there had been radio reports
of a pod of whales. We found the whales (at least the rest
of them did) and followed their travels for a bit before it
was time to go to our rendezvous with the grizzlies at the
fish ladder. We landed on the mirror-smooth lake and hiked
a kilometer or so through the devil's club to the bear
viewing site (actually built as a fish ladder, but the
local bears are not dumb), where we were met by the resident
fish and game officer, who was delightful, informative, and
fearless. We watched as a local male tried to bully one of
the females and her cubs; eventually our ranger went out
there to give him the what for, which was impressive as she
was perhaps 10% the size of the boar. Even though she carries
noisemakers and I believe firearms I don't envy her her job.

We spent the better part of an hour watching bear antics,
and the time came too soon to return to the plane.

As it turns out the officer was heading out for supplies, so
lili hitched a ride behind her on the tractor with me in the
trailer behind.

On the way back the pilot took us along the east side of the
island, making a short detour to buzz his father's house,
which was kind of fun.

Dinner at Henry's Great Alaskan Sports Bar and an Elton
sighting. A large, good-humored table, intent more on
consuming vast amounts of seafood and products of the local
brewers' art than on fussing about miles and points, though
I suspect there was some of that too.

My Captain's Platter offered local cod, very good; jumbo
prawns, pretty good, though I suspect from warmer waters
than local; and Kodiak scallops, disappointing as modest in
flavor and sweetness; all fried with a defter touch than I
would have expected. Kodiak North Pacific Ale went quite
nicely.

Apothic Red was off, so the fallback was something somewhat
worse but cheaper, Jacob's Creek Merlot.

end
 

Breakfast was upstairs in a dedicated room; it resembled the
Hampton one, the sausage and eggs slightly better, potatoes
slightly worse.

The daily adventure was a trip to Chiniak, where there was
an abandoned airstrip, among other things.

We think we found it - anyway, a longish stretch of straight
road. After a bit of further wandering around, we headed
toward lunch, which was at the slightly hyperbolically named
Road's End. This roadhouse is run by a family, complete with
kid running around the dining room. The mommy greets you and
waits and does kitchen things as well; someone, presumably
daddy, runs the grill and fry station.

A jalapeno burger was okay, your basic well-done flat patty
with pickled peppers. I'd have preferred fresh, a la Five
Guys, but there's reliable testimony that jalapenos are not
grown in these parts. Nor apparently airlifted thereto.

One of the vans didn't show up for the longest time. Turns
out there was a puncture wound in one or more of the tires,
which impeded their progress.

Eventually, back to town. I holed up in the hotel.

Everyone but me went off to Pillar Mountain (where they
suffered yet another flat tire) and then to the Old
Powerhouse, which is said to have surprisingly good sushi -
I was feeling like death warmed over and in no mood for
sushi or in fact any other kind of food. I just slept
fitfully for the next 24 hours.

I don't know what people did on the next day; I am fairly
certain I didn't do it.

I woke up periodically when I soaked through the bedsheets,
but other than that, oblivion.

--

7H 893 ADQ ANC 1900 2010 DH8

I told lili to take a right-side window seat, as that's
where the views are. Everything was socked in. It was a
somewhat more bumpy than usual flight and unpleasurable for
me, but we got in more or less on time, whereupon lili got
her rental car and took me out to my friends' place in
Muldoon that was to be our base for the next few days;
instead, it turned out to be my isolation ward, mostly,
except for the one altogether too brief visit to Casa de
Bob and his famed WoW.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't hungry and couldn't take
advantage of all the tri-tip I could dream of eating; I
slept most of the time in BobW's comfy chair, taking care
not to drool or do anything communicablish.

There were wines aplenty, of which I managed to taste a
few '07 Washington Cab-Merlot blends - D2 from Delille,
Ch. Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Merlot, and Col Solare, in
order of bigness and chocolatiness and in reverse order of
fruitiness. I was sadly pretty addled and was unable to
appreciate these fully so had just small sips, medicating my
condition mostly with lesser alcohol and saving the good
stuff for those who could actually taste.

jackal made me a to-go plate, which was gratefully
consumed bit by bit over the next days.

Back to the airport and the Boardroom, where I choked down
a mug or two of hot chocolate in deference to my condition
rather than the usual Alaskan Amber.

UA1243 ANC SFO 0035 0613 738 3AC

The meal was the Mediterranean snack plate, which I passed
on, subsisting on Courvoisier and hot water, not together.