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Anchorage

www.anchorage.net

This is Alaska's largest city with a population of about 270,000 which is two-fifths of the state's population.


It definitely has the feel of a large mid-sized American city with a viable downtown and glitzy suburban shopping particularly along Diamond St. where the Diamond Shopping Center is located. There the full glories of American commercialism are on display.

There is even a Best Buy which I visited with the idea of buying a lap top that could handle my technical needs. The Sony VGN-CR123E/B is priced at 999$ U.S. which is apparently quite a lap top at a great price.

It is inviting because there is no sales tax of any kind in Alaska and the exchange on the U.S. dollar has not been this good in a long time.

The sticking point is the warranty so I think I will go with Dell.

I am reminded that Anchorage is in Alaska by the looming Chugach Mountains which can be seen just east of downtown.

Having learned the lesson well in Fairbanks, I have made the University of Alaska - Anchorage my headquarters or "office".

 The student center has a pleasant working environment with unlimited wireless. The student milieu is interesting and reminds me of my own university days. The social interaction between the students seems to be the best part of university life. However, as I see most of them struggling with their maths and sciences I have no desire to revisit those days. It is remarkable that during my university days no one had even heard of a personal computer and now it is absolutely standard equipment and the computer of choice seems to be the sleek Mac models.

As a change of pace, I have gone to Barnes & Noble and Borders. They are giant American book store chains of the Indigo genre in Canada. They also offer pleasant surroundings for writing and wireless access.

Without a hotel room, these places are important and also infinitely more interesting.

So my exposure to Anchorage has been in the context of the university and the two book stores which has led me to the most interesting parts of this town.

Anchorage is in a super location because it is just north of the Kenai (pronounced keen-eye) Peninsula.

Having spent the last two days in the Kenai Peninsula, I was enraptured by this beautiful part of Alaska.

Before leaving Anchorage this evening (Sept. 17) or tomorrow I would like to drop by at the local Volvo dealer to see if I can get my remote entry clicker replaced. The nearest dealer back home is in Vancouver, a ten hour drive away.

I also would like to check out the local airport because there is a distant connection with Prince George.

Prince George has recently succeeded in getting the millions of dollars in funding from the federal government and provincial government to finance a runway extension at the airport.

The aim of this extension is to attract a part of the cross-polar air freight traffic which presently uses Anchorage as its main refueling point.

It took a long time for the business case to establish for the viability of such a project for Prince George. The green light has now been given to start the project.

While being unaware of the intricacies of the situation, there is one point which baffles me.

Gasoline sells for around $1.15 a liter in Prince George. It sells for $2.85 U.S. a gallon here in Anchorage. Just doing the rough math, at about 4 liters per gallon, the Prince George price translates into 80 cents Canadian a liter here in Alaska.

That amounts to a 28% premium for any freight airline which opts for refueling in Prince George.

There is obviously something I am missing.

Finally the economy of Anchorage is based on the importance of its port and airport, its hub for the Alaska Railway, military bases, oil, tourism and government.

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