My Sister Sara

Spring really is here - even without green grass or leaves on the trees.  When it's time for my sisters to come visit, I know that I've finally made it through the winter.  Whew!

Sara's visit this spring is going to be a short one, but she's promised to spend more time with me on the way back in September.  In Tuesday evening, gone again by Friday morning.  What a terrible way to spend Tax Day.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I was going to try to take a day off, since she wasn't able to spend any weekend days with me, but we're short handed at work and behind schedule.  I settled for leaving early on Wednesday and Thursday, then staying late on Friday.

We discovered that in all the years Sara has been coming to Alaska for the summer - and in each of those years she stops (twice) to visit me - we've never taken her to Double Musky.  Oh, how can that be?!?  We've seriously neglected our hosting charges.  We've been derelict in our duties!  We've been lax in our responsibilities!!  One might wonder why that were so, if one were unfamiliar with Anchorage and the Double Musky.  The reasons are two-fold: the drive to Girdwood is absolutely beautiful; and the food is magnificent.

 

We've now rectified our gross negligence.  Apparently Thursday nights aren't as busy as weekends.  We were anticipating at least a half hour wait once we got there, but were seated almost immediately.  With such savory fare, you would think I might've had a variety of the dishes, but you'd be wrong.  I'm a creature of habit mostly, and only sometimes do I break out of my mold to try new things.  It doesn't help that my #1 choice is a melt-in-your-mouth pepper crusted steak.  Why should I try something new when I've got such a heavenly option awaiting me??  Maybe because the jambalaya is exquisite, as are any number of the other menu items...  If you come to visit us, don't let us forget to take you to the Musky!!  (Here's a short NextStop video about the restaurant.)

Because it's getting lighter and lighter, the sun was still up after we'd finished dinner.  (I absolutely love how much sunlight we have right now.  But I have to keep myself from thinking that in only two months it's going to start going away.  O, Summer Solstice, how I hate thee!!)  Sunset along Turnagain Arm is breathtaking.

 

We stopped by the snow blower on the way home - which is just past the bird refuge if you're heading south, where you can see pretty birds and people canoeing in the summer.  (It's a bit early for that, yet.)  I figured that Sara would have seen one of these monstrosities already, since Valdez gets buckets more snow than Anchorage.  But then I remembered... there's no train to Valdez.  Hence no railroad snow blower.  I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but you're facing what seems like an engine, with massive blades and chutes to clear avalanche snow from the tracks.  If Snidely Whiplash were around - and you were Nell - you'd likely be tied to the tracks in the first picture, wailing for Dudley Do-Right and thinking: Ah, shit. This is the end, then. while campy piano music plays in the background.

Ahem.  Two afternoons and an up-before-the-buttcrack-of-dawn-for-breakfast-before-she-goes morning fly by way too quickly.  My first indication of spring has come and gone.  On the bright side, Jeannea will be here next week - so I still have another visit to look forward to.  But on the dark side, half my spring visits are over, and the rest (all ONE of them) will be just as fleeting.  Fortunately this is spring, not fall - it's much more depressing then - so I can look forward to another visit from Sara in a few short months.  Yay!!