Tour Guide
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Accents
North American (General) North American (US General American - GenAM)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Greetings and salutations, my friend, welcome to Alaska and welcome to the state's largest city, Anchorage. Some residents refer to Anchorage as the most northern suburb of Seattle. It feels like a metropolis compared to the small towns and villages throughout the rest of the state. Give or take a few 1000 residents a year. The population is about 300,000, meaning about 40% of the population in the entire state lives in one big city. Thanks for joining the tour. My name's Ranger Fox. I'll be your tour guide. Looks like you're planning to travel the Seward Highway. The tour isn't a turn by turn tour of Anchorage. We're about the long drive on the open road, but we can help you get your bearings while you're here in town. Let's look around town with the four cardinal directions. If you have decent weather, there's a good chance you can see some mountains bordering one side of town. Actually, the east side of town, a general rule for navigating Anchorage. You hear it explained to people who just moved up here all the time. The Chugach Mountains bordered the city to the east. So if you see those mountains on one side of town, you can easily figure out which direction you're traveling. On the south side of town. You can take the Seward Highway to the town of Seward. The Tony Knowles coastal trail runs along a portion of the western side of town from Kincaid Park all the way to downtown. The north side of town has a military base and the Glenn highway which takes you to the town of Glen Allen. But first you'll pass through the Matsu Valley where you will find the jumping off point of the Parks highway in Wasilla and the agricultural town of Palmer. You may have noticed that there are not many highways up here. So if you're looking to leave Alaska's largest city by car, those are your only two options. Anchorage does have some big city problems. Don't forget to lock your car doors, But it really is a cool city with friendly people from all over the world to the extent that a report several years ago found that 111 languages are spoken by students in the Anchorage School District making it at the time the most diverse school district in the entire nation. How can that be? He might be asking? Well, the short version, a lot of Alaska natives moved from rural villages to live and work in the city and Alaska was part of Russia before the United States purchased it. And with the oil fields in the north and the fishing industry, there's lots of incentive to move here for jobs. And well, when you look outside, you can probably see why people like it here and decide to stay the wilds of Alaska and the military bases draw a younger crowd where demographically speaking, Alaska has a tendency to have a young population besides the highway. Of course, there are some other ways to travel around the state. The Alaska railroad travels both north and south somewhat following the highways. I just mentioned you can find the railroad depot just off downtown along Ship Creek and no doubt that Anchorage International has thousands of flights a year. During the winter. You will see a long line of Alaskans taking direct flights to Hawaii for some fun in the sun. But cargo is actually what makes Anchorage International a hopping place Because it's so close to the North Pole. 90% of the population of the entire planet can be reached within a 9.5 hour flight. So Anchorage, logistically speaking is a great place to stop for fuel. An Airbus Beluga might be fueling up while you're here. You might be able to see it. If you drive to point Warren's off. If you want to see small aircraft, you can stop by Lake Hood, the world's busiest seaplane base and catch a flight to a truly wild destination outside of town. You're free to drive around Lake Hood but make sure to obey all signs and keep in mind you have to get out of the way of the aircraft that may be taxing on the road on their way to a small gravel airstrip that's next to the lake. Aircraft have the right of way. Another small airport near Downtown Merrill field has been in operation since 1930. The 100 year anniversary is approaching and like we mentioned earlier, there's a military base on the northern edge of town, specifically joint base, Elmendorf Richardson. Elmendorf in Richardson were two separate bases, Air Force and Army for most of their lifetime And they both were formed in 1940. Now, the bases are combined to joint base, Elmendorf Richardson. It's not uncommon to see fighter jets and huge military cargo aircraft overhead all in all. It's a lot of aviation packed into one location. So many people would say aviation is king in Anchorage or even in Alaska for that matter as far as things to do while you're here. You have lots of options. I mentioned the coastal trail. Well, you can find hiking trails around town and in the Chugach Mountains during the summer, you might find people fishing for salmon and ship creek just down the hill from the skyscrapers of downtown. Should be no surprise if you are downtown, you will find no shortage of gift shops for the foodies and the craft beer lovers downtown has plenty of options. Keep in mind, Anchorage is a big city. And if you do some online searches, you will find lots of gyms all over town here at audio tour. Alaska. We don't advertise for specific businesses, but if we could make one recommendation, it would be to have some seafood while you're here. Anchorage along with a lot of other coastal communities really is a seafood city because obviously Alaska has such a thriving seafood industry. If you have a taste for crab salmon or halibut, you're certainly in the right place. Anchorage is a wild place. Even though Anchorage residents say that the wilderness is only 20 minutes from town. The folks in the rest of the state joked that Anchorage is only 20 minutes from Alaska. But hey, it's all good fun. And as you meet people throughout town and throughout the state, you will find there is a lot of state pride and that people truly love it here. Grizzly and black bears are often spotted in town every once in a while. There are neighborly reports of lynx coyotes or wolves moves are fairly common. There was even something of a celebrity many years ago, Buzz Winkle, a large bull moose. He would get drunk, eating the fermented crab apples off the trees and inevitably got his antlers tied up in a set of holiday lights and wandered around downtown. We don't recommend getting drunk on crab apples and wandering around downtown, but we won't criticize you if you do. We just want you to know that there is plenty to do while you're here and there is plenty to see and do along the drive. So, let's head out. We will be taking the Seward highway to Seward. I know what you're thinking. How did they ever come up with a name for that highway? Well, I don't know what to say. Sometimes Alaska keeps things pretty basic. Seward is nearly 120 miles away and driving straight there will take somewhere around 2.5 hours, but it all depends upon the traffic, the road construction, the weather, so many factors. If you're heading to Cooper Landing, Saldana or Homer, the junction for the Sterling highway route, one is about 90 miles away. Alaskans are used to driving long distances. It's not uncommon to drive to Seward and back for a day trip. Expect to see a lot of cars on the road during normal travel hours. If you're already in Alaska and driving around, I'm sure you know the rules of the road. I don't want this section of the tour to sound like a backseat driver, but I do want to give some advice that will help everyone arrive at their destinations safely and peacefully. The first thing you need to know is that Alaskans drive fast and many Alaskans will drive well above the speed limit. That doesn't mean you have to or that you can get away with it really. No way you're on vacation. Take it easy and obey the traffic signs and make sure to switch on your headlights for better visibility during the day. Try not to hold up traffic behind you. There will be many passing lanes or turnouts along the road, passing lanes are for passing. So slower traffic should keep right at times when it's a single lane and you see traffic lined up behind you stopping a turnout if you have an emergency, of course, you would use the shoulder of the road. Otherwise the turnouts are really useful. I would even urge you if you do stop, get out of the vehicle and take a look around. So that way you can keep your eyes on the road while you're driving. Nobody wants an accident. We don't want to see anyone get hurt and an accident can shut down the highway for many hours. That being said, road construction has been known to back things up too. It's a good idea to have some snacks and water with you for the drive in case you get stuck in a traffic jam. If you're driving during the winter, expect icy conditions and plan on taking it slowly. Most Alaskans vehicles are outfitted with studded tires which may offer better traction than the tires and a rental. So don't overdo the limits of the vehicle you're driving and yes, you heard that right. Alaskans drive with little metal spikes on their tires during the winter, like I said earlier. There are lots of turnouts along the highway. I'm not going to point all of them out, but I will let you know about a few of them. If you stop, be sure to press pause on the tour until you get back on the highway. You might want to keep your phone on a charger and set it on the dash or somewhere. It can receive the clearest connection with GPS satellites. The GPS connection will work without cell service. But due to the mountainous environment, the phone on the dashboard seems to give a little stronger GPS signal for some phones in your settings. Make sure you allow location services to use the app. Along the way. We'll dive into Alaskan history, talk about the wildlife and lots of things in between. We'll take the mystery out of the wilderness that lies ahead. You all set great. The next segment of the tour will begin as you head out of town.