'You buy, we fly'

Anchorage Daily News ^ | January 2, 2006 | KATIE PESZNECKER

[Chena]

In Coldfoot for awhile, and then north of there along the Gates of the Arctic. No, we don't live near the Chena river but I was nicknamed after the river. Winter hasn't been as brutal this winter. We LOVE global-warming. har har

[ChinaThreat]

I love Alaska. Considering moving there. I'm not sure I could handle the interior in the winter. I've flown into ColdFoot and drove south on the Dalton Hghwy to Fairbanks one time. Beautiful drive, especially as you near the Yukon River. I also rafted on the Chena. Glacial melt rivers are extremely cold. I am assuming you are not cold even though your nickname is Chena.

I would more than likely move to Anchorage or somewhere on the coast but I guess I should be prepared for the disdain of interior residents. I think its funny that people north of Wasilla call it Los Anchorage or North Seattle.

[Chena]

We love Alaska too. The road trip from Coldfoot to Fairbanks is one we made every few months to buy supplies.

Nope, I'm not "cold" like the river. teehee

Our son and his wife live in Anchorage now, so when we need supplies we usually drive to Anchorage now instead of Fairbanks. Anchorage is so much warmer than the Interior.

I hadn't heard of Anchorage being referred to as Los Anchorage or North Seattle. But that is funny. The saying we hear more often is, "the only good thing about Anchorage is that it's close to Alaska". ;)

[Eska]

40 mile is out of Tok, don't think fast eddies would do the deal that the pizza shops in fairbanks do. Its the competition up there. No joke that 175 bucks we spend on 20 large pizzas, 3 tops is well spent. We have a Pioneer Maid (amish cookstove) and its pretty big cooktop 55X25 and oven is as big as any gas oven. We can get it to 450 degrees with no probs. Its just nice to have a freezer full of pizzas and in 20 minutes eatin pizza. Wife does better with halupki and good hunkie food than pizza. They stay good but don't last a month with the kids around. Just got to make sure the pizza shop that delivers frozen pizza to say everts, has them put them in freezer. Pizza shop also told me reason why they can sell them cheap is that they don't have to cook them. The precooked pizzas just not as good. Try it sometime.

We usually haul 2-3 gran worth of cold stuff from sams or costco in fall. If you see the meat manager at sams they will usually knock off 300 on 1800 worth of meat; luv that maple bacon. I have them leave everything in cases in their freezer and I haul it back in big icechests, stays froze hard for 5 days.

I hate running out and paying 3 times the price at local store except for fresh tomatoes.

[Chena]

I agree, it's best to buy the pizzas frozen and uncooked from a pizzeria. Reheating pizza is o.k. if you're desperate but it's just not the same as fresh baked. I'd sure love to have a cookstove like yours. I swear everything tastes better cooked with wood, and with the price of propane, it's the best way to go. I cook on the woodstove quite often, but have to bake in the gas oven.

That's a great deal on 20 pizzas, Eska. Fast Eddies used to make good pizzas, but we're not big fans of their pizza anymore and rarely ever buy one....and their prices are horrible compared to Fbks or Anch.

Sams sure has good meat and they are wonderful to deal with in Fairbanks. When we used to live up north, we'd shop like you do before winter came. Spend big bucks on one huge shopping spree and then settle in for winter. The kids are grown now and on their own so we've found that our trips to town are not needed as often, and food lasts us a LONG time. LOL

How much snow do you have up there? We've got about 2 feet on the ground now that it's all settled. Looks like we'll get a bit colder this week, but hasn't it been a wonderful, warm winter so far?