The Weekend Edition

This weekend was an absolutely beautiful one in Anchorage, and one that completely demanded that I be outside for the majority of it. Sure, it was Alaska beautiful, where the no clouds and gorgeous sun is tempered my middling weather (5o to 55), but it was still pretty incredible. I even have what can be passed off as a slight burn/somewhat tan! How exciting?! So below is a breakdown of what went down this weekend, with the follow up on the most important aspects.

• Basketball with Colver
• Pizzas and Jazz/Lakers with Colver and Lorna (poor Jazz...)
• Kempton Hills crazy fest (aka garage sale day in the neighborhood)
• Anchorage Weekend Market
• Shopping with Colver, Lorna, and Kim
• Frisbee Golf!!
• BBQ at Colver and Lorna's
• Foosball!
• Chilling with Amy at Middle Way
• Wrapping up a big work project
• Moose's Tooth with the Crew

Very busy weekend! Regardless, I'm going to primarily focus on the craziness that was Saturday, as I was up from 7 am until 3:30 AM doing anything and everything.

The reason I got up so very early on a Saturday was a neighborhood (Kempton Hills) in the south side of Anchorage was having their yearly garage sale that day, and it's always an absolute mess, but an incredibly fun one. I had convinced Kim to join me on a quest for knick knacks and great buys, and we both had a great time (although I have to admit, wearing a polo shirt, shorts, and sandals was not the best plan - it was cold!).

What did we make off with? Strangely enough, I bought one thing, and it was at the second garage sale we visited (of roughly 60 total). It was a really awesome decanter, very high quality and extremely pretty. A really cool knick knack to put in my place, and I can't wait to fill it with milk for a delicious batch of milk and cookies! Or you know...something like that. Kim made off with a much bigger haul, picking up four books, some fiesta ware, and something else I don't quite recall.

Even though we only arrived thirty minutes late, it was an absolute madhouse, filled with bargain shoppers in all shapes and sized and from all sorts of locations. I saw people walking around with cups of coffee from Eagle River coffee house Jitters, we saw three people who were getting money from an ATM at the same time as us on the opposite side of town, we saw women who dressed their animals with t-shirts. We saw every type of person you can imagine.

All were united with one common goal - save the most on the best items. Going in I had a goal to get a foosball table and some cheap cd's or vinyl, but I completely failed at getting anything off my list, not to mention I completely failed at finding any cool items for friends or family. Generally you can normally find something cool for someone at this soiree, but I found practically nothing of use.

Truth be told, the actual items at the garage sale were far weaker than years past, but it was still a very good time and extremely entertaining seeing all the strange things people collect throughout the years and the bizarre things people will buy from each other. This didn't even include the multitudes of fundraisers going on, including the soccer team who was trying to pay for a trip to the states by selling kettle corn, and their coach who manned the intense fire pit and called to everyone who walked by to purchase from them in a strangely effeminate voice.

Afterwards (three plus hours after we arrived), Kim and I departed and headed to the other side of town to attend Anchorage's Weekend Market, which amazingly enough never changes, yet is still constantly busy. Maybe it's that people really like Alaskan made products...maybe that it's people love carny food (I had Salmon Quesadillas and Kim had a burger), either way, that place stays busy constantly. We didn't buy anything besides food, but we did get to patrol the grounds in search of good buys and we did get propositioned by a man looking to sell us a dream vacation. I'm very certain he thought we were a couple.

This led to meeting up with Colver and Lorna at the Fifth Avenue mall for shopping and then two rounds of frisbee golf for Colver and I. We played one round of best ball and one round standard and shot negative six in the best ball round and negative one and plus one respectively on the other round.

Quick note: one down side of the weekend is I lost my driver this weekend to the dreaded Westchester Lagoon. A bad release point led to an extremely straight throw...directly into the body of water. This is the driver I've been using for years, and one that's been through the good times and bad. Very sad!

The rest of the night was encompassed by an incredible BBQ over at Colver and Lorna's, where we grilled up a ton of burgers, covered with unfathomably delicious pineapple, cheese, and avocado, and were some of the most delicious aloha burgers I've ever had. Mmmmmmm!!!

Kim and I laid in the sun while Colver and I tossed the frisbee for a while, and we just chatted and had a great time with each other. It was good, mostly (somewhat?) wholesome fun which led into a trip downtown for foosball and hanging out at bars. Amazingly enough, I really wish we had just stayed at Colver and Lorna's.

It was a great time there, and I think I would have had more fun just staying there with all them. But still, all in all it was a great time and an extremely good and packed to the gills Saturday.

Once again, weekends like this make me strangely reluctant to go on my trip. I know I'm going to have an incredible time (coming this Wednesday - get ready Pacific Northwest!!!) but at the same time, I just think of the good times I'll miss out on here. I guess every situation has tradeoffs though, and I know I'll love every second of Sasquatch and seeing friends.

But who is going to be there to take a picture when Lorna is burying Kim in grass? I ask you that!