Alaska is like the West, only more so.

In Anchorage it’s about 23 F and snowing.  No one in Alaska stops doing anything due to the weather, and neither will we.  Since I don’t know the town, I’m useless in my usual role as navigator.  Deb: “Here’s something you can do:  watch for moose.”

She wasn’t joking.  Moose wander into Anchorage (pop. 500,000 give or take) in winter.  They are just looking for food, but they can be extremely dangerous and unpredictable.  99% of the locals have the sense to give them a wide berth and refrain from feeding them; the number used to be higher until the Darwin effect winnowed them out.  No one from Fish & Wildlife shows up to dart and remove the moose unless they pose threats; if someone is idiot enough to trouble them, and gets trampled, that improves the local gene pool.

Of course, you don’t want to hit a moose on the road, especially at 45 mph, nor do you want to have to slam on your brakes (on an icy road) to avoid one.  Thus I was on Bullwinkle watch, and will be as long as we are here.  It is my duty to assure that we don’t hit a moose.

One of the best things about Anchorage is Title Wave Books, about the coolest used bookstore you could imagine.  It’s a used bookstore about the size of Barnes & Noble, but comparing Title Wave to B&N is like comparing Camembert to Kraft polymer cheese.  The selection is amazing from a browsing standpoint.  I could spend $2000 in there and equip myself with enough reading for at least two years–and not exhaust the interest level of browsing there.  I felt more intelligent just walking the aisles. For an editor, all of whom are necessarily voracious readers, it’s heaven.