Hiking Flat Top on a sunny day is the closest Anchorage gets to a traffic jam. The parking lot is craziness and the police have a field day writing parkers along the road up to the Glen Alps trailhead. We beat the crowds by a few hours Sunday morning and found a perfectly clear sky and Denali out very clearly (often Denali is only clearly visible from Anchorage in the winter when it is well below 0). Perhaps not the hottest and sunniest day of the summer, but certainly the best one on Flat Top. Aside from a 10 day stretch here and there of solid rain, this has been a very warm and sunny summer. We hit 70 over half a dozen times.

As we scrambled down from the peak a college age blond met my eyes and asked if I was wearing a Wisconsin hat.

Yep.

"I'm from Wisconsin!," exclaimed the corn-fed young lady.

"I lived in Madison for a bit."

"I'm from Wausau."

I gestured back to my cousin L while she already was stating, "I went to Point."

"Cool! I'll be back in Wausau in a week."

"I'll be visiting Edgar in a few more," I added.

More pleasantries and smiles were exchanged and soon down we went again. We joked about FIBs and FOBs (in Michigan) and tried to determine if I'm still a FIB. I don't think so, but I won't be betting the farm on it.

Wisconsinites are everywhere up here.

Why was I almost late for work today?

a)I caught a flat.
b)It was raining.
c)The moose and her calf would not move out of the bike trail.

The answer is C. After some clapping and stomping and 10 minutes they trotted a few yards into the swamp.

The Double Musky in Girdwood is my favorite restaurant here in Alaska, perhaps even my favorite anywhere. I usually have a craving for steak a few times a year, so their Pepper Steak becomes a welcome bath in gluttony. The remaining seafood and cajun dishes fill out the menu nicely.

However, thanks to little Hank these days, we don't find ourselves heading out to Girdwood that often for rich, leisurely dinners. No problem at all, as I own the Double Musky cookbook and have plenty of time to tinker around at home. I made a stab at their jambalaya on Friday and it was fairly successful. I swapped the shrimp for chicken breast and opted for chicken Andouille sausage. It came out very spicy (just right for me and a bit hot for Becky) and a touch too salty (I neglected to account for the salt in the chicken stock). Overall I really enjoyed it, it flat out looks correct, and I now know where to make the adjustments next time. I'll just need to pick up some fresh,traditional Andouille at the butcher shop in town and give the non chicken option a shot. We'll have snow and cool days here sooner than I'd like to admit, so a spicy dish will be welcome before Halloween.


It just needs some rice.

Done!