I stop at Mocha Moose, happen upon a bust on Wasilla Main Street and then photograph a polar bear that is about to travel to India
Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 4:00AM ;)
As I pulled up to the drive-through at Mocha Moose for my afternoon coffee break, I could hear Carmen's voice in my head, "Bill! Bill! Don't you go switching coffee houses on me while I'm gone!" As already stated, Carmen has shut down the Metro Cafe, all the way through the weekend.
When I pull up to her window Monday, Carmen will ask where I went while she was gone. I will tell her, "Mocha Moose." She will scold, "Bill! Bill! no, Bill!" and she will get a distressed look on her face.
I know this, because she always closes on Sunday and when I stop by on Monday, the conversation goes pretty much as stated above.
But, when the coffee you love is gone, you've got to love the coffee you can get.
Wasn't this the theme of an old rock-and-roll song?
;)
There were three cars ahead of me when I pulled in and took the first picture. Now, there are two cars ahead of me and so I shoot the scene from where I stop again. That is Lindsey on the other side of the window and she will soon prepare an Americano for me.
;)
Now there is only one car ahead of me. The people in the back seat of that car are watching an animated film on a tiny, flip-down screen. Lindsey serves them whatever it was they ordered.
;)
Now Lindsey brings me my Americano. She gives the New Year a thumbs up. Optimism is good. I hope she is right.
Sorry, Carmen - but what was I to do?
;)
As I prepare to drive away, three boys run across the parking lot. They seem to be having a good time. I remember when I was that age and would be running like this. It was usually because we were in some kind of trouble, or that we were happily imagining that we were.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not implying anything about these kids. I'm just remembering how we were, at the same age.
;)
Three blocks away from Mocha Moose, on Wasilla's famous Main Street, I saw that the police had something going on. It was obviously not a routine traffic stop. It looked to be a bust of some kind. What I was most impressed about, though, was the amount of daylight that still lingered in the sky.
It was about 4:20 PM. We are only 12 days past solstice, and look how the light is already on the increase! It kind of gave me a feeling of impending spring.
That is a false feeling, and sometimes when people in Alaska get that feeling too early and then realize that it was all a lie, they go a little crazy. Sometimes, they go a lot crazy. Bad things can happen then.
They call it, "cabin fever."
;)
Vidya Dixit, one of my nieces in India, stopped by on Facebook today for a chat. Whenever we get together, in person or online, we chat about animals. She was very worried about this polar bear, Nanuq. Vidya loves animals - even more than people, she says. I have seen her accept a blessing from an elephant. She has a beautiful daughter named Vaidehi, who is just a tiny bit younger than Kalib.
How fun it would be, to photograph Kalib and Vaidehi together!
Vidya is not in a situation right now where she can have any kind of animal living with her - not a cat, not a dog, not a mouse. She can look out the window and see a monkey now and then, but she cannot invite it into the family's living quarters.
So I told her I would send her a polar bear. "Really, Uncle? Really?" she queried.
I then took a quick trip to Barrow, went out on the ice and convinced this one to come back with me so I could send him to her, but in the insane rush that is my life, coupled with the insane crowd that filled the Post Office as Christmas approached, I never managed to send Nanuq off.
Today, I promised her that I will on Monday. She then insisted that I send her a picture of Nanuq tonight.
So, Good Niece Vidya, here is your polar bear. He will be coming soon. I know Chennai can get extremely hot, even though you are right by the sea. Please keep a block of ice for him to hang out on. I do not want him to melt.
On cool days, take him down to the beach and see if maybe a seal will come to him.
Nanuq loves seals.
;)
I was about to go to bed when it suddenly occurred to me that if I were to type, "Vidya" into my computer's search engine, I might find a picture of her being blessed by that elephant. So I typed and I found. It is at a temple in Bangalore, less than a block away from the home of Murthy and Vasanthi, the parents of Vivek, who is married to my niece, Khena, daughter of my sister, Mary Ann. Vidya is married to Vijay, brother of Vivek.
I took this image in August of 2007, just days after the wedding of Vivek and Khena.
It's funny - when I look at this image now, I feel like I should just be able to close my eyes, open them up in India, walk out the door and go down the street to this place.
There are so many places that I have such feelings about.
Reader Comments (17)
Wow.. If only that were possible.. to travel at the speed of your thoughts.. :)
If I were able to travel at the speed of my thoughts, I'd be throwing up out the car window.
Happy New Year Wasilla, Alaska, by 300!!......The good old Solstice "flux", the sunset is later but the sunrise is later as well, at least for a little while after the 21st......Your blog is a daily stop on my World Wide Web itinerary, it is a unique and intresting site you have created.......I can only try and imagine the possibilities you envision for the future, I assume it maybe a struggle at times.....Surfing Yakutak, how tough could that be? you've got to figure that any discomfort from any lingering injuries would be a non factor because you would be so numb from paddling around in that 40 degree water.....don't forget your cold water wax!......Again, thanks for sharing.
Bill - previously Alaskan Bloggers have set up pay pal accounts requesting donations for their own individual projects. You could do the same - for example you could set up a donation site for the trip to India to take photos of your friend's wedding etc etc.
I'm sure that Palingates would be happy to publicise such a request with our readers.
Let us know if we can help.
Beautiful colors in the Mocha Moose photos!
It looks cold in your nighttime photos but you are not fooling me...you've sent some of that frigid air down here. Our thermometer read 23 below zero very early this AM. Very Cold! Brrrrr! I think it is tooo cold here for Nanuq so it is well that he is headed for India.
It is so wonderful to know that there are pockets of sanity everywhere in this world. I come here to reassure myself that sanity, beauty, hope, love and optimism still exist in this crazy time of instant communication of so much racism, stupidity, lies, and hatred. Thank you again Mr. Hess.
It's -35 in North Pole, AK. It's cold.. and I need some good coffee. I think about making some.. but going to where the good coffee is ALWAYS drags me out.. no matter the weather. So I totally related.
And my coffee lady HATES it when I go somewhere else! She's just like Carmen.. ;) She's the best, but .. not in Fairbanks.. and when I'm there all day I can't drive back to NP for just coffee..
Ok, who am I kidding.. I totally have!
Happy new year!!!
I don't buy my espresso at Mocha Moose because they are such rabid Palin supporters. Do they still have Palin signs hanging all over that shack?
Don't they remember what happens to the Mat-Su when the oil industry isn't investing in Alaska? There's no one around to buy coffee! They deserve to go out of business.
Ash - I would come and visit you.
Debby - but you wouldn't need to be in your car!
MgSoCal - I have been a little worried about my shoulder when I go out there - mostly that it won't be strong enough. As to the cold water, I learned to surf as a kid in the Eureka, CA, area, where the Humboldt current sweeping down from Alaska comes closer to shore than anywhere else, making the waters there pretty darn chilly - more so than either Oregon or Washington. But that was a long time ago, too.
Whitestone - I'm glad you are finally getting some nice, pleasant weather. As for Nanuq and all polar bears, they don't even care about -23. In the wintertime, that's a warm day to them.
Grandma Nancy - And there I thought that the life I live is totally insane. Glad you enjoy what I sahere.
Rocksee - I have never stopped in North Pole for coffee. Where do I go?
Visitor - Mocha Moose took down their Palin signs long ago. I think they must have realized that they were costing them business. I understand your sentiment completely, but, the way I look at it, if I, as a resident of Wasilla, stopped patronizing all the businesses that put up Palin signs during the campaign, that would really limit my options.
Plus, I understand that when she was here, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times patronized Mocha Moose. Dowd has taken Palin to task several times. So I figure if she could still buy coffee there, I can too - but pretty much only in a pinch: like on New Year's Day, and sometimes on a late Sunday Afternoon, when Metro Cafe and just about everybody else is closed.
I just left Wasilla in October after 35 years there. We are bumming around the country full-time in the RV. It's fun to check in to your blog and see glimpses of home. You portray Wasilla perfectly. Many pictures remind me of why I wanted to leave so badly and others make me very homesick.
I paid with a check once at Mocha Moose and asked if I should make it out to Palin Fever - I was kidding of course but any stranger would have thought that was the name of the place. I'm glad to hear they finally took the signs down.
Kathleen and Snowbilly - I didn't mean to skip over you in the first round - I just lost track of where I was.
so,
Kathleen - Thanks for the suggestion and the offer to help. I need to learn more about all this.
Snowbilly - Not bad for a little pocket camera. It would have looked better with one of my DSLR's, but I just can't carry the dang things in my pocket.
Wasillian - Once, my wife and I thought we were going to do that - this was before we came to Alaska. But we could not afford an RV. Happy travels.
It was nice to have you visit me Mr. Hess :)
Visitor- I think that is just sad that you think that mocha moose should go out of business just because they like to show support for people. Maybe you should waste your opinions on something else.
300- maybe you shouldn't blog about something that your just going to degrade :)
I think since you only go there when your in a "pinch" when everyone else is closed...I guess you like drinkng crappy coffee from other places. check it out mocha moose was voted #1 how many years in a row?! LOL
GO SARAH~!!!!!!!!!!!!
Noble defense, crazyakgirl - but I challenge you to find one sentence that I wrote that degrades Mocha Moose. You can't, because there is none. When one considers how many coffee kiosks there are in Wasilla, for me to state that chose one when my usual, favorite, coffee shop is closed hardly degrades the one I chose
That means I chose it over how many other possibilities?
Describing other places as serving "crappy coffee" - now that could be considered degrading...
I'd have to say it's sad to read all the posts about people not liking mocha moose because Sarah palin. Mocha moose has been voted #1 coffee in wasilla at least 7 times im sure. Mocha moose has been around since 1994 and has many many loyal customers. I am one if them and I have to say they have the best coffee and fraps. The owner is just another person just like me and you, trying to make a living. And last I knew this was a free country and if the owner wants to stand strong in his beliefs then he can advertise on his company and it shouldn't effect the customers who choose to go there or not.
There seems to be some exaggeration going on here.
Akgirl88 accused me of degrading Mocha moose when I wrote not one degrading word about the place. Now crazyaboutmocha moose speaks of reading "all the posts about not liking Mocha moose because of Sarah Palin" when there was, in fact, one such comment. Another poster indicated that although the Mocha Moose Palin signs bother her, she had continued to buy coffee there but was glad that the signs had been taken down.
As for me, I made clear that I do not base my patronage of Wasilla businesses on whether or not they support Palin and I noted that Maureen Dowd of the NYT, who no one would accuse of loving Pailn, reportedly bought her daily coffee at Mocha Moose during her stay in Wasilla.
So there just is no basis for your statement, "all the posts..."
As for your statement about this being a free country and the owner can stand strong in his belief and advertise as he sees fit, no one here has challenged that right. It kind of reminds me of all the times when people have used their first amendment rights of free speech to criticize Sarah Palin and she has retorted by using her first amendment rights of free speech to accuse them of suppressing her rights, when no one was doing any such thing.
Yes - this is a free country and that freedom extends the rights of people to chose where they will buy their coffee and where they will not buy their coffee - for whatever reason they see fit. If it aggravates some people to get in line to get their morning coffee only to face a Sarah Palin sign on the wall before them, then, just as the owner has the right to put that sign up, they have the right to go elsewhere.
When they do, they are not taking away his rights or even challenging them - they are merely excercising their own rights.
As for me, I just love Metro cafe. I love their coffee, I love the people who own and run the place. I don't care about their politics. It doesn't matter to me. They can vote for someone that I would not vote for. My loving to go there is not a put down or a criticism of Mocha Moose.
Metro Cafe is out of the way for most people and is not on the main drag as is Mocha Moose, and they have been in business for only a year-and-a-half, so of course they are not going to come out on top of a survey. Most of the people taking that survey would not even have been to Metro. It is too far out of their way.