Seward

My mood is a little better this evening, but there are definitely two people in the car now. For lack of better terms I'll call them Old Al, and New Al.

New Al says things like "You know, if someone hit my car today I wouldn't mind. As long as they don't injure me I'd walk up to them and ask how they were, exhange insurance info if they had any, pat them on the back, and go on."

Old Al says things like "Where is my #$%# hat!" when he's standing in the drizzle trying to find his hat (in the car he packed).

Well, I wonder if I will always remember today as the day the fever broke? It goes like this:

I'm here in Seward, and this morning I had a dream that we were filming a new season of Northern Exposure, and I was one of two new cast members. On a break the lady that plays Shelly came over, and she was elected to tell me that "I was a good actor, but ...", and they were letting me go. I argued that we already had a few episodes in the can, but in the end I left, very dejected.

Well, today was a quiet day of unsuccessful house/rental hunting. After more searching, Seward is still looking like a no-go.

It's hard to find a house for rent in a town of 700 people. There are a couple of homes for sale, so I'm going to call them and see if they want me to house-sit while they try to sell the homes.

There are also two commercial properties available, and I'm going to call and see if they want me to live in one of those. :) One is a former dance studio, the other looks like a suite down at the wharf.

I now find myself in Seward, Alaska. While I was waiting at the laundromat I read this ad:

"Alaska newspaper seeks full time reporters to write about Alaska Native communities from Barrow to Ketchikan and Nome to Tok." I'm not ready to start another job yet, but I read that and thought how cool it would be to travel from one community to another and then write about the experiences.

I'm off to eat some sourdough pancakes in downtown Anchorage, then getting on the road to Seward.

For breakfast there is a place here called "The Downtown Deli and Cafe". According to a web site, "The house special is sourdough pancakes made with starter supplied by a miner in 1939." I hope they don't taste old. :)

Seward is about 125 miles south from here, and I'm going to stay at the Van Gilder Hotel.

After a little more thinking about where to live, I've decided to start looking in Seward, which is south of here (Anchorage), and situated on the water; and Talkeetna, which is north of here, and south of Denali. Seward offers all things water-related, including kayaking, glaciers, and hiking; Talkeetna offers hiking, close proximity to Denali for more stuff, and even a local flight instructor who trains you to be a "bush pilot".