Revisiting the Last Frontier
Travel notes from Anchorage & the Inside Passage & the Pacific Northwest
SAN FRANCISCO, CA —
There are a lot of things that urban planning dorks like me espouse as elements of an ideal city — effective public transit, zoning for housing density, transit oriented development, integration of built and natural spaces — and Vancouver brings a lot of these to life. Spoiler alert, it leads to exactly to an incredibly beautiful, livable city. The SkyTrain system is small but well-designed, quick, efficient and rapidly expanding. Pedestrians and cyclists are clearly the focus of the downtown block, not cars. Extensive mixed-use development means that most metro stations, even in the suburbs, aren’t just isolated platforms. Instead, they have restaurants and businesses and coffee shops and connections to rapid bus transit. Vancouver is expanding its urban infrastructure to match its growth and station in the world in a way that is incredibly rare south of the 48th parallel. With the exception of Seattle, which is doing really impressive work on the SOUND Transit expansion, Vancouver is lapping the field of American cities on all things transit. It’s a great example of what’s possible in an environment that treats transit as something resembling a priority, not a mere afterthought.
Vancouver is temperamentally, logistically and emotionally entirely opposite to Anchorage, but I love Alaska’s only real city.
Anchorage is oft referred to as the border between the rest of the world and true Alaska - it is absolutely a city, but certainly one that would be out of place anywhere else. It’s a short drive from downtown to true wilderness, but you have most of the creature comforts that typify big city life. But there’s a certain vibe that the city gives off that confounds me — it’s just empty! I like Anchorage a lot because there’s a small town feel that belies the 300,000 people that live in the metro area, which makes sense given the city is one of the least dense metros1 in the world. It’s an interesting case study in localized development - nobody is calling for a subway or extensive pedestrian infrastructure in Anchorage because it would make no sense. There are some places, like Anchorage, where a sprawling, car-centric model just makes sense. The problem lies when we apply Alaska-esque development philosophies to growing metros in the continental 48 states.
5 Things:
Alaska is, obviously, stunning all around, and I loved the chance to explore some new parts of the inside passage I haven’t seen before this go-around.
Kenai Fjords National Park, AK
National Park #26 for me! There is something astounding about seeing a glacier right in front of you that never goes away, and this park has plenty of that in addition to the sculpted fjords that most come for. It’s also an incredibly doable day trip from Anchorage, which never hurts. Kenai Fjords is - like many Alaskan parks - absolutely massive and hard to explore solely on land. A lot of the key attractions of the park are best seen by seaplane/boat, which was not something our schedule made possible on this trip, but I hope to come back.
Glacier Bay National Park, AK
Even more than Kenai Fjords, Glacier Bay is - as the name suggests - a largely maritime park. It’s hard to describe just how vivid the ocean blue is in this part of Southeastern Alaska, and the photos below only do it a modicum of justice. There’s a sense of wonder that this place inspires that stays with you long after you leave the park, along with a sense that we shouldn’t be doing anything that might mess with this kind of a place.
An oft-undervalued part of an effective public transit system is linking the airport to the city center, as the LINK system in Seattle and the SkyTrain in Vancouver do. I would almost always rather take the metro when I’m in a new city, because I find it a good way to get slightly familiarized with the area compared to an Uber, but there are far too many major airports where this isn’t even an option. I’m looking at you, San Jose (no BART or CalTrain connection) and especially Austin, where that god awful CapMetro line has the worst alignment possible and doesn’t do the one thing that it had to - which is connect AUS to downtown.
The US-Canada border, especially in Alaska, is hilarious to me. At the White Pass crossing, there’s a solid 15 miles of no-man’s land between the US and Canadian border checkpoints, and the entry process back into the US is … quite lax. It’s such a beautiful crossing & White Pass is no joke of a climb, but the border situation is amusing.
The Bay Area is an incredible place for coffee shop and pastry enjoyers, like myself. This week, I had a matcha latte w/ smores cold foam and a milk bread cinnamon roll (photo below). One of my favorite parts of days where I’m virtual is just getting to explore the variety of coffee shops and coworking spaces that dot the Bay like they’re going out of style.
The Bedside Stand:
This looks like a kids picture book, and it sort of is, but it’s a really uplifting and easy flip through book. Not a read so much as a skim through and enjoy, but a good one.
In My Ears:
Pablo Torre is cooking the NFL Players Association right now, and this saga is absolute box office. A must listen - this really is in some ways the future of sports media.
Phone Eats First:
Wild Scoops — Every once in a while you find a totally random place that feels like home in some abstract, entirely intangible way. This specific Midtown location of Wild Scoops hits that emotional heartstring for me, so much so that I got off a flight at what felt like midnight body clock and literally ran two miles to get a couple scoops before close. I regret nothing. Also, the white raven is absurdly good Oreo ice cream.
Birch & Alder — On the route from Anchorage to Seward is a lovely side of the road bakery and coffee shop with a blueberry scone that is worth a trip all of its own. The combination of crackly brown sugar & perfectly baked pastry is stupidly good, even if you (like me) are not really a fan of blueberry-flavored things.
Fire Island Bakery — Anchorage’s K Street Market is a nice combination coffee shop/bakery/gift shop and more, and this raspberry lemon scone is real testament to the fact that you can find excellent pastry anywhere these days. Maybe Anchorage really is a big city because this is major market level bakery work.
Nemesis Coffee — One of my favorite coffee shops in recent memory - I cannot speak highly enough about this Vancouver establishment! 20 minute lines out the door for coffee & pastries is a great sign, and this place delivered. The coffee was high quality but a tad strong for me, but the pastries were spectacular. Also one of the most beautifully designed cafes I’ve ever seen.
SIGNAL Coffee Roasters — Milk bread cinnamon roll with brown butter icing. Need I say anything else? As mentioned above, incredible place.
Best,
Mantra
I’ll concede that it is far from a major metro, but the point stands.