Alaskanism: "Rondy"


Short for 'Fur Rendezvous', a winter festival held each February in Anchorage since it's origins in 1935. The festival was originally timed to coincide with the annual swap meets held by fur traders. The current incarnation includes events like dogsled racing, 'snowshoe softball', a snow sculpture, art shows, native craft fairs, a model railroad show, fireworks, a parade, and more.







Rondy has been in danger of extinction these past few years due to lacking cashflow, and maybe lack of local interest.

I didn't take the picture, so words will have to do. This post isn't an 'ism. It's not an Alaskan term. But I hope it shows a glimpse of Anchorage winter life...

Live in Alaska for long enough and the once wondrous starts losing it's color. Becomes commonplace. Things that would make the tourists gawk, we take in stride. But sometimes we see things that rip away our jaded sourdough facade.

I only had one thing planned for this evening and it was not the State of the Union address. It was a photographer's group meeting and I was running late. Having snowed again today, the roads sucked. And the two driving surfaces were boggy snow or slick smooth ice. I'm on a main road with three lanes on my side of the snowy divider. in a curvy section that is not well lit, my car is climbing a gentle slope and I spot three lit road flares on the icy middle lane. They make kind of a V shape to guide drivers around the blockage. My first thought was a fender-bender and I automatically start looking for munched cars. Nada. But as I'm nearing the flares, I can see that they are definitely marking something. A dark mass. Part of a wreck that hasn't been towed? The shape starts to resolve itself. It's a moose on it's side. Young adult. Dead (I'm pretty sure). I can't take my eyes off of it as I drive past. It's still snowing lightly and a fine layer has gathered on it's fur.

Dark icy roadway. Red flares. Dead moose. Falling snowflakes.

It would have made an excellent photo. It only took me a couple seconds to realize that. But I decided to drive on. In part because of the meeting; partially due to the danger of standing in the middle of an unlit busy road to get the shot that I would not have been satisfied to take from the curb.

Later, sitting in my plastic and chrome stackable chair downtown, listening to a guy talk about infrared cameras used for oil pipeline diagnostics on the North Slope, all I could think about was the stiffening snow-covered limbs of that moose. And the road flares.

I WON I WON!



Each year the National Park Service conducts a lottery to allow people to drive their own vehicles the length of Denali National Park. This year there were over 6000 entries. 1600 were chosen to enter the park - 400/day over four days. This was the first year I have entered. I won.

The park road is almost 90mi long. Most of it is gravel road, getting narrower and rougher towards the end. We rented a truck and camped one night within the park. Although we didn't see Mt Denali (McKinley) due to low clouds; the views were awe inspiring. Between my wife and me, we shot over 700 frames of photos, and two hours of video and saw expansive vistas, interesting geology, and wildlife including brown bear, dall sheep, a sky full of migrating sandhill cranes, jays, magpies, hare, and a parky squirrel.

The experiences have not fully gelled yet as I face my first Monday back at work.

No No NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Fall is in the air in Anchorage, and I really truly feel that we were ripped off this year. It CAN'T be time for another dark winter.

Can it?

Next-up, a one week 'red autum'. Termination dust creeping down the mountainside until it's down to the city. Ugh. I don't even want to think about it. At least I have the Alaska State Fair this weekend!! Yipeeeeeeee!!!! I'll lose myself in that for now. Better not to think about the coming winter.

You can still find snow in Anchorage if you look hard enough. Once little mountains of it, pushed to the corners of parking lots have now dwindled to dirt covered mounds smaller than my car.

The trees bud here in the spring just as quickly as they turn and drop-off in fall. Two days ago? Stick-trees of winter with the start of budding. Yesterday, a hint of green to them. Today I see a fine 'green mist' everywhere.

These are all signs; true. But what really hits home that it is summer? The first of the out-of-town family vacationers arrive today! Because as you all know, summer in AK means re-discovering all the beauty that we take for granted. Seeing it anew through the eyes of our visiting friends and relatives. Oh, and it also means more people competing for bathroom time!

Summer is here folks. Don't blink.

Springtime has come to Anchorage... mostly.

A couple of weeks ago I changed the wheels on my car. Studded snow tires off - summer ones on. I also spent a charming afternoon sitting on a chair in the back yard, pulling studs from our 'beater car's' tires, one at a time.

The last of the snow had melted by that time. The yard is raked. The 10' of city road gravel has been hosed back onto the street to await the street-sweeper (an anual tradition).

So now we come to the present day... May 8th. I open the curtains, and what greets my eyes?

Spring lawn-watering ... Anchorage style:



It's May 8th people!! SNOW??? Grrrrrrrrrr.

Boiling pasta, taking a shower, washing dishes, flushing the toilet, brushing your teeth, conducting that laundry mission on the weekend. What do all these have in common? That's right.......water. We Homo sapiens can't live without it, and we Alaskans, believe it or not, are no different. And yes, that includes the interior version of said species (By interior, I mean up north, the really cold part of the state).

Usually, people get their water for their homes from one of two sources, a private well, or by way of connection to the city water supply. Not here in Fairbanks.....at least not everyone, and a considerable percentage at that. Ever hear of a Water Wagon (It's actually Water Wagon, LLC)? The Water Wagon is the best friend of people who's houses are not connected to a conventional water source, but still have running water (you'd be surprised to know how many people up here live in "dry" dwellings). Instead, these folks have holding tanks (either underground or in their basement) they've got to keep filled in order to accomplish all those chores that require agua.


The Water Wagon is where locals wait in line after work to fill their tanks in the back of their trucks. It's like any other stop....the post office, grocery store, picking up little Elizabeth and Franky from school. Whether you're haulin' 200 gallons in your dilapidated Toyota Tacoma or 500+ in your fancy new diesel flatbed, you stop at the Wagon and pay your 1.8 cents per gallon for a fill of, you guessed it, city water. Then it's a mad dash for home before the valve on the tank freezes and you can't get it open to drain it into your holding tank (at least this is the case in January when it's 40 below...imagine having a couple thousand pound ice cube in the back of your vehicle and no garage to thaw it in).

What's that? You drive a Pinto? Oh, so you're getting your water the expensive way!! It's 8 cents a gallon for delivery, with an 850-gallon minimum. Just give Water Wagon a call and they'll send this big sucker and his hose to your house to pump you full! (below)


OK, it's easy to understand people living too far away from the city's water system, but why not just dig a well right? Not so fast. The combination of high arsenic levels, low well yields, per-foot costs to drill, and well depths as far as 600 feet make for a cost analysis that favors the holding tank way of life in most situations, at least that's the case here in Fairbanks and the surrounding area.

Alaskanism #3: Water Wagon.