Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Grab a coffee in the hotel breakfast room as the waitress is clearing up the breakfast service. She says something to me about the coffee. Can hear an accent. Ask where she’s from.
Alba. Is the reply.
She means Scotland.
Ask her where from. Meaning where in Scotland.
Alba. Is the reply. Again.
Ask her where from. Meaning where in Scotland.
Alba. Is the reply. Yet again.
Is it me?
It’s going to one of those days at this rate.
The simple route it has to be. Have to expressly ask her where from in Scotland.
Ah. Glasgow.
Am told that all Scottish people call Scotland ‘Alba’.
No.
They.
Don’t.
Having worked in Scotland, having travelled in Scotland, having worked with many Scottish people around the world, not one has ever used the term ‘Alba’.
She’s not impressed. Clearly has a little chip on her shoulder. Probably a Scottish Nationalist.
Chucking it down with rain so catch up on self service laundry and travel planning the next few weeks.
Which involves a new and exciting development, dear reader.
Having been to the southernmost point of the continental USA, in Key West, have decided to fly to the northernmost point. Point Barrow. Google it. You’ll see where it is. Might as well whilst I’m here. Doubt I’ll be back any time soon, if at all.
In other news.
Rather than flying back to Seattle from Anchorage, as originally anticipated, am taking another cruise ship cruise back to Vancouver.
By coincidence, the most suitable departure date from Seward is a Holland America cruise again. Not the Noordam though. The sister ship Westerdam.
Really don’t want to go home. Delaying the inevitable jolt back to reality as much as I can.
Walk through the silent streets of Fairbanks for lunch. Where is everyone? Hardly any traffic in downtown.
The only people staggering the streets are drunken Eskimos.
Fairbanks doesn’t have an awful lot to amuse the visitor. There’s a reason you don’t hear of people saying, “Oooh, we had a lovely weekend break in Fairbanks.” There’s an air of decay about the place.
Pop into the ‘Ice Museum’, set in an old 1940s theatre which appears to have been neglected over the years. Not really a museum. More a collection of ice sculptures in a refrigerated room set at minus 6C. Does have an aurora film though. This is excellent. Some stunning photography and film footage of the aurora. Despite an interest in astronomy, have never seen the aurora and it remains on my bucket list. Eskimo and his small child enter the aurora film late and make as much noise as possible settling in. Child then proceeds to make a racket running up and down the aisle, moaning that he’s bored. Eskimo Dad fails to take the hint from a few shushes from other guests. Ignorant, disrespectful lot.
In addition to the ice sculptures, is an ice slide. My inner chimp says to try it. Hurtling down I think I’m going to crash into the corner of a wall at the end. But miss it by inches. Museum curator shows me the slight kink in the ice slide that shoves the sled away from the brick wall at the last minute. Clever design.
Given a brief demonstration of ice sculpting by a Chinese ice sculptor. Takes a drill and drills various holes in a block of ice to create an intricate flower design. A group of Australians sitting behind me are trying to work out what he’s making. My Rolf Harris impression of, “Can you see what it is yet?”, fails to register.
Maybe they’re Kiwis.
For some reason there’s a lot of Thai restaurants in Fairbanks. One of which, the Thai House restaurant, serves up the best Red Chicken Curry I’ve ever had. Anywhere. Superb food.
Still daylight at midnight.
Won’t see darkness for a while now.
