postcards from alaska pt. IV

anchorage was really beautiful the first two days i was there (it didn't suck after, but it was overcast and drizzly). where i grew near the sierra nevadas in california, you have these rolling hills as you go up in elevation until you actually hit the mountains, so i find it's a different landscape for me to see a city which is fairly flat and then on the outskirts this giant mountain range. it was pretty cool.

i couldn't afford a room near the convention center (well, by the time i had the fraud alert removed from my credit card and was able to complete a reservation, i wasn't) so i was about 8 miles out of town. but even renting an economy car and staying there was cheaper than being downtown. the only thing i wasn't prepared for was the, sometimes exorbitantly priced, parking in downtown. i had looked up parking issues on the convention center website before i left and there was a blurb about garages, parking meters and parking on the street for free. i think the key here was the fact that the word "street" was singular because i couldn't find anywhere to park on the street for free, so i figured there must be one street available for free parking and they weren't telling you which one it was...

so the picture above is from the roof of the cheapest parking garage i could find. and the roof was the only place i could usually find a spot. as you can see it was a beautiful day, and as excited as i was to be at the conference, i was bummed it was indoors all day.

i never travel (outside of work purposes - research, conferences), and the fact is right now i can't afford it. but, i can afford it when it comes to my own professional growth. and i try to make the most out of it, that i can afford... one of the things i like about most conferences is that they do try to give people info/options for activities in the city where the conference is held. usually they have excursions that cost a little extra, and if there are talks you don't mind missing or aren't working on your own talk up until the minute you give it (not me...a friend, yeah a friend i know...). i rarely get to go to those, again, not to beat the very dead horse with no money, but i usually can't afford them. but they also provide activities/socials that are sponsored by the chapter holding the conference. one of the socials was at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Catering companies constantly underestimate the drinking and eating power of fisheries/ichthyology/marine biology professionals as well as their junior professional underlings (grad students are notorious for being free liquor/food magnets) so the drink lines were loooooooooooong and the food lines were loooooonger. but once you got your food and could find a seat the presentations were amazing.

this is in the main hall and in the background you can see a map of alaska. each different colored section represents the different native cultures and the areas they inhabited (historically). because in spite of what
some people think, not all injuns are the same. just sayin...

then they did some songs, and drumming and dancing. it was wonderful. after the dancing they did some athletic demonstrations which were truly mindblowing. i will post those tomorrow.