“We have earned this vacation. We’ve been to Hell and back the last couple of years.” quoth Ann. This trip to Alaska would be our first vacation in a very long time. Four years if you count as a vacation our drive from Virginia to Oregon in moving across the country in 2017. Before that, we had a few days off here and there, but rarely a true vacation since 2011, true vacations being nearly impossible in the restaurant business.
A glance at the local weather reminded us that this was a great time to head to Alaska because after a few weeks of reasonable temperatures, things in Oregon are headed north of 90 towards 100 by week’s end (and would be over 110 when we got back). Meanwhile the Anchorage forecast is for highs in the 60s with a lot of clouds and some rain.
Given our 6:30am flight from PDX to ANC on Monday morning, there was no profit in trying to get up early enough in the morning on Monday to drive to the airport, to risk commuter traffic. Our usual routine is to drive to the airport the evening before, grab a beer and some grub at Culmination Brewing, and stay at a hotel at the airport.
Getting Ready
On Sunday morning, uncharacteristically for me, I was extremely anxious and uncomfortable. In the software business (before restaurant), I used to fly all the time without any anxiety, flying 100s of thousands of miles a year. Why so many nerves this time? I think it was the dogs. Leaving them was hard, so hard this time.
They were so clingy all day; it’s amazing how intuitive they are and how they can note the slightest difference in how we humans behave. It didn’t help that top of mind was that Charlie could die while we were away. He’s been on borrowed time for a year, his body riddled with tumors.
Packing helped. After weeks of mulling over what clothes and gear to take on our adventure, actually packing it was a relief. I packed super light, everything fitting into my small 33-liter backpack along with a tiny camera bag. I basically packed as if I were doing a thru hike, hiking also playing a huge part in our Alaskan agenda. I added a pair of shorts and jeans to kick around in. Alaska is less formal even than Oregon: blue jeans are formal restaurant attire.
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| My Gear Sprawl on the Kitchen Table |
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| My 25-Ounce Camera Setup |
The body and lens are shockingly light, coming in at under two pounds (25 ounces with battery/lens cap/etc.) in comparison to the old rig coming in around five pounds. And the picture quality is vastly improved over that of the old Nikon. If the body were any smaller I wouldn’t be able to hold it in my big mitts.
Dreaming on, I'd love to have a faster lens with more reach than the f5.6 approximate 200mm that the 135mm lens mounted on the small sensor yields, but I don't want to carry the weight of a bigger lens. At the other end of the spectrum, 18mm is pretty decent for landscapes. It's all a trade-off and for me, this very lightweight zoom lens works best in most situations.
Technology is also helping to carry the camera in the field. In recent years, camera clips have come a long way and I purchased one from Peak Designs that bolts onto my backpack strap. It has a quick release mechanism that the tripod plate on the bottom of the camera clips into. The camera clip proved to be extremely useful and stable, but I did have to remember to tighten the bolts holding the clip onto the backpack strap on a daily basis. All in all, a tremendous purchase.
I also purchased a Peak Designs leash for the camera, for when I wasn't actively hiking and using the camera mount on my backpack. The quickly detachable leash around my wrist gave me a lot of peace of mind, especially when shooting from the upper deck of a boat tossing in 10-12 foot seas.
The leash is designed to be worn as a bracelet when not in use, but I found that the magnet in it was insufficient to keep it around my wrist as a bracelet. Also, I don't recommend the leash when carrying the camera on a backpack. If unfurled, the leash dangles and sways annoyingly on your chest; if leashed around the camera lens, it impedes focusing the camera. I ended up rarely taking the leash when backpacking; if I did, it stayed in my pants pocket until needed.
Because the camera and lens is so small, I was able to forego my large camera backpack in favor of my tiniest camera bag which holds the camera, with lots of room left for my backpacking tripod, spare batteries, battery charger, Garmin, two pairs of compact binoculars, sunglasses, and other miscellaneous stuff such as cleaning gear, filters, and memory cards. In short, the new camera is a game changer for travel.
Summing up from my experience with the camera on the trip, I found that the Sony controls are somewhat awkward to use compared to the Nikon controls that I know by heart. Sony's menus suck as well. Finally, I found that I was quite often accidentally changing ISO, shooting mode (single shot v. multishot v. bracketed exposure), and f-stop when shoot in aperture priority. Despite these issues, I'd buy the camera and lens combo all over again for a lightweight hiking camera.
Cleaning out the Fridge
For lunch, I cleaned out the remaining few items in the refrigerator and put together a frittata. We did not know it at the time, but this would be the best food we would have in a good while. We now know that one does not go to Alaska expecting decent (or, sad to say, even competent) food.
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| Clean Out the Fridge Frittata |
Culmination Brewing
At 4 pm, after feeding the dogs, we walked out the door and headed north into town. This was our easiest trip in to Portland ever, an hour and five minutes to Culmination Brewing in the northern part of Southeast, ten minutes from the airport. Living in an area with some of the worst traffic in the nation, we are very thankful for small miracles like no traffic on the way to the airport!
Things have changed at Culmination since our last visit in 2019. Let me rephrase that. COVID has changed things at Culmination since we were last there: there's a lot of new covered seating outdoors, most of the indoor space and the bar are closed to seating, and gone is their kitchen, in favor of a vegan food truck operation called Miami Nice. Our bartender was pretty snippy too, but I don't think that was COVID related. She got better as the evening went on, but still, a snippy bartender is not what any business wants or needs.
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| Seating is Outdoors, Phaedrus IPA |
One of the benefits of being outdoors was interacting with all the neighborhood dogs who came with their owners to have a beer. We were already missing our two dogs, so sitting at the next table from Copper, an extremely pretty Wooly Husky, was just the excuse Ann needed to go play with him.
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| Copper, the Wooly Husky |
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| Mugging for the Camera |
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| Queen of Hazy Beer |
Vegan Food Truck
My personal opinion on vegetarian and vegan food is that if you are going to avoid eating meat, you should celebrate vegetables rather than putting effort into making your vegetables look and taste like meat. Ann is more blunt about not eating vegan food that resembles meat, humorously preferring a more Italian approach, “I could live on pasta, fruit, wine, and bread, but…how big would my ass be?” Nor does she understand why you would avoid dairy, “You feed a child with your tits.” But we're cool with everyone making personal dietary choices.
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| Vegan Loaded Tots and Vegan Cubano |
The ersatz “cheese” on our loaded tots looked okay but tasted and felt all wrong. A former sous chef and good friend Tony has created a business making vegan cheese down in San Diego. I am sure he has put a lot of effort into creating better mouthfeel in his cheese and I am looking forward to tasting what has has accomplished. This vegan cheese wasn't high art.
The Cubano was a mixed bag as well. The bread and the pickles were OK. The jackfruit fake pork was interesting but could have been mistaken for slaw. The fake ham was a mess though, slices of some kind of non-meat tasting soy protein “sausage.”
Vegan food can be a whole lot better than this. I should know, having cooked creative vegan dishes almost every night of my restaurant career for years and years. As I have already alluded to, our mediocre food at Culmination was a harbinger of things to come in Alaska.
Ramada Portland Airport
The Ramada just off of 82nd Avenue offers a Park and Fly service which bundles parking, shuttle service to and from the airport, and a room for a very reasonable price, barely more than the cost of a room for a night. At easily $15 per day for parking, we would have been out nearly $300 for parking.
In normal times, the Ramada has a van that runs regularly to the airport to shuttle guests, but they advised us in advance that they would be booking a Uber for us. When we arrived at the hotel, they let us know that they would be putting their van back in service for the first time since COVID. We could take the very first shuttle at 5:00am.
The bed was a bit squishy, but for the price and convenience, our stay at the Ramada was well worth it.
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| Sum Total of Our Baggage, Less Ann's Small Carry-on |
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| IPA Night Cap to Ensure Good Sleep |
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