Dumb Alaska questions. Post yours here. give us a few laughs

[scottbee]

A quick note on the Bank of Scotland. As I understand it, Scotland is a separate enity, as is England. Both are part of Great Britain / United Kingdom...

 

Scotland and England are to the United Kingdom; what California and Oregon are to the United States; merely regional areas with local governments. The only organizations that see them as separate countries are a few sporting organizations like FIFA. Even the website for the parliament of Scotland has an FAQ where they point out they're not a country.

 

The official currency is the United Kingdom pound.

[mr green]

Scotland and England are to the United Kingdom; what California and Oregon are to the United States; merely regional areas with local governments. The only organizations that see them as separate countries are a few sporting organizations like FIFA. Even the website for the parliament of Scotland has an FAQ where they point out they're not a country.

 

The official currency is the United Kingdom pound.

 

There was a TV program that I saw in Canada some twenty yeas ago, it was a take off on Candid Camera.

A fake Canadian boarder was erected for a short time, between Oregon, and California, with fake Mounties and Custom officials. A 'faked treaty, and map' was produced to show the change.

The show was a USA production, and it was hilarious.

 

john

[dan1618]

Okay, since Dan encouraged the Mea Culpa approach to this thread - about day 3 into rapidly planning our Alaska cruise I asked this beauty on another travel site:

 

What are the chances of seeing the Northern Lights?

 

(Pretty much zero the last week of June, with 22 hours of daylight. DOH!!!!!!)

 

;) regretfully yours,

Kirsten

 

Actually, you still have a small chance to see them. Geophysical research department from University of Alaska says that south of latitude 55, the aurora should be visible to observers in Canada and the northern US all summer if the auroral index is 4 or more. 55 is around Ketchikan, so the whole way from Vancouver or Seattle through the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, there is at least a chance if conditions are right. So let's hope your questions turns out to be a good one.

 

One thing they say you can do to increase your chance of seeing them: drink lots of water right before going to bed. :D

[Sandi3667]

Actually, you still have a small chance to see them. Geophysical research department from University of Alaska says that south of latitude 55, the aurora should be visible to observers in Canada and the northern US all summer if the auroral index is 4 or more. 55 is around Ketchikan, so the whole way from Vancouver or Seattle through the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, there is at least a chance if conditions are right. So let's hope your questions turns out to be a good one.

 

One thing they say you can do to increase your chance of seeing them: drink lots of water right before going to bed. :D

 

Thanks for posting - you've given me hope that we have a chance of seeing the aurora on our cruise. I've been wanting to see them since I first heard about them back in grade school. Hopefully I'll finally get to actually see the aurora.

[JLC@SD]

Someone asked whether we could see palin's house from the ship?

 

...you can see it from Russia....:D

[NHsnowpup]

I researched extensively before our land and cruise tour, so not to have a blunder and knew there were a few sacred topics to avoid (one of which has shown up in this thread)

 

Little did I realize that I would step into the proverbial pile of sh@@ once we were loose in Fairbanks. Then forgetting myself I tried it again on the trip from Denali to Anchorage. My transgression was to me a very simple question, but I guess it offends the locals to the nth degree.

 

All I asked was, "What's with all the little Espresso stands we see on every other corner?"

I apologize for being backwoods and insensitive to another culture!!

[dan1618]

I researched extensively before our land and cruise tour, so not to have a blunder and knew there were a few sacred topics to avoid (one of which has shown up in this thread)

 

Little did I realize that I would step into the proverbial pile of sh@@ once we were loose in Fairbanks. Then forgetting myself I tried it again on the trip from Denali to Anchorage. My transgression was to me a very simple question, but I guess it offends the locals to the nth degree.

 

All I asked was, "What's with all the little Espresso stands we see on every other corner?"

I apologize for being backwoods and insensitive to another culture!!

 

Okay. As a first timer, I have to know: what are they? :D And what are the other sacred topics to avoid?

[NHsnowpup]

Okay. As a first timer, I have to know: what are they? :D And what are the other sacred topics to avoid?

 

Well Dan,

Palin is always a hot or not topic. Most would prefer not to be asked was what I gathered.

 

As far as the Espresso stands, well, I'm still a little stumped--

 

--how that many can make a living and stay in business

--how many do you need in a small sized city??

--who picked the range of colors, (you'd think you were in New Orleans)

--why are they ALL Espresso, not just Kava, coffee, quick stops??

 

Maybe you'll have better luck.

[AKKarl]

Can you do Denali NP as a day trip from Anchorage or Seward?

 

my reply, Yes, if your day begins and ends at 2 a.m.

[Taters]

I've lived in Fairbanks since 1984. (And for the OP - that's before there were any coffee stands! LOL) One question I get over and over again when we travel "Outside", from folks from all walks of life and educational backgrounds is ths: "Don't you get tired of the year 'round winters" Seriously, I always reply that we DO have summers - beautiful ones at that, with the sun shining 24/7 and flowes and greenery everywhere!

 

One time we were in Costa Rica and grabbed a cab to town from the ship. Our driver asked where we were from and we told him, Alaska. "Wow!", he exclaimed! "I've never had anyone in my cab from Alaska before... That's out by Hawaii, right?" OMG...

 

My very well educated older cousin asked me about 10 years ago how many dogs we had. When I told him that we didn't have any dogs, just a couple of cats, he got this strange look on his face and then asked me how we got around. Sigh... You simply cannot choose who your relatives are.

 

Have fun, y'all!

 

Taters

[rditton]

One time we were in Costa Rica and grabbed a cab to town from the ship. Our driver asked where we were from and we told him, Alaska. "Wow!", he exclaimed! "I've never had anyone in my cab from Alaska before... That's out by Hawaii, right?" OMG...

 

I get this all the time too and one time I had a long conversation with the person when he pulled out a map of the U.S. - sure enough - on his map, Alaska was located in a little box right beside another box with Hawaii! haha...

 

Now I chuckle whenever I see it - on Weather maps on TV, in the newspaper, on educational maps, etc. - and think of him!

[pebblescon]

I researched extensively before our land and cruise tour, so not to have a blunder and knew there were a few sacred topics to avoid (one of which has shown up in this thread)

 

Little did I realize that I would step into the proverbial pile of sh@@ once we were loose in Fairbanks. Then forgetting myself I tried it again on the trip from Denali to Anchorage. My transgression was to me a very simple question, but I guess it offends the locals to the nth degree.

 

All I asked was, "What's with all the little Espresso stands we see on every other corner?"

I apologize for being backwoods and insensitive to another culture!!

 

being from the Seattle area I understand all the little Espresso stands.. but this made me laugh anyway!

[wrp96]

When I moved to the lower 48, these were some of the serious questions I was asked:

 

1) Is it different being in the US? A. I wouldn't know I haven't been outside the US since I was a baby.

2) Can I see your passport? A. Why? It looks the same as yours.

3) Does she speak English? A. This one floored me. It was asked when my grandmother introduced me as her granddaughter that just moved here from Alaska.

 

The questions about the 24 hours of darkness/light didn't bother me - I just explained about the Arctic Circle. Same with the comments about the cold. The map questions gave me a chance to give people geography lessons.:p

[dustyroad]

]"Polar Bears during Alaska Cruise?"[/b]

 

And in multiple formats---

"Is Antarctica only place to do penquin viewing? Any tour companies offer that tour? We are doing southbound cruisetour w/HAL in July' date=' 2009."

 

"Ketchikan--Scuba diving and snorkelling (how does it compare to Cancun? Malaysia?) Where can we see penguins?"[/quote']

 

someone asked the question about being worried that polar bears might attack them in the ports for the inside passage cruise. some first timers invision the first takes of '' the day after tomorro movie '' and think they will be in the poles with hundreds of miles of open glaciers too be on.

[Cruizer_J]

During an Alaska cruise we were returning from Mendenhall glacier on one of the shuttle buses and I jokingly asked the driver, "So, when do you get tired of the tourists around here?" "Oh, about the end of September", he answered very diplomatically.

[wcook]

Even the website for the parliament of Scotland has an FAQ where they point out they're not a country.

From that website:

 

As the UK has no written constitution in the usual sense, constitutional terminology is fraught with difficulties of interpretation and it is common usage nowadays to describe the four constituent parts of the UK (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) as “countries”.

[nwwinelady]

We saw the Norhern Lights the last week in August in 2000. It was great!:D

[ANewerCruiser]

Thank you for this thread. It has been quite enjoyable! :D

[Gardyloo]

One of my favorite stories comes from a friend who (like me) commuted frequently from Anchorage to the bush (in his case Northwestern/Northern Alaska). The predecessor airline to Alaska Airlines that served towns like Nome and Kotzebue was Wien Consolidated (later Wien Air Alaska) who at the time used "combi" Boeing 737s on that route, in which the front half of the plane was a big cargo bay and passengers sat in the rear half.

 

Anyway, one day he was flying from Nome to Anchorage, and sat in the bulkhead row next to an older tourist lady who was returning from Kotzebue to Anchorage (the flight originated in Kotzebue and stopped in Nome en route.)

 

At Nome the airline had loaded several muskoxen into the cargo bay - tethered and trussed up so they couldn't harm themselves or other cargo, but they're very big animals ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskox ) and as soon as they were on board (never in the lady's field of vision) they started snorting and banging around.

 

"Excuse me, sir, but what's making all that noise?" she asked my friend.

 

"Well, ma'am," he answered, "You see, there are a bunch of gold mines up in the middle of the Seward Peninsula [north of Nome - true] and some of those miners haven't been in civilized company for two years or more. The airline tends to keep them separate from the rest of us until we get to Anchorage."

 

Eyes wide, she bought it.

[wrp96]

One of my favorite stories comes from a friend who (like me) commuted frequently from Anchorage to the bush (in his case Northwestern/Northern Alaska). The predecessor airline to Alaska Airlines that served towns like Nome and Kotzebue was Wien Consolidated (later Wien Air Alaska) who at the time used "combi" Boeing 737s on that route, in which the front half of the plane was a big cargo bay and passengers sat in the rear half.

 

Anyway, one day he was flying from Nome to Anchorage, and sat in the bulkhead row next to an older tourist lady who was returning from Kotzebue to Anchorage (the flight originated in Kotzebue and stopped in Nome en route.)

 

At Nome the airline had loaded several muskoxen into the cargo bay - tethered and trussed up so they couldn't harm themselves or other cargo, but they're very big animals ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskox ) and as soon as they were on board (never in the lady's field of vision) they started snorting and banging around.

 

"Excuse me, sir, but what's making all that noise?" she asked my friend.

 

"Well, ma'am," he answered, "You see, there are a bunch of gold mines up in the middle of the Seward Peninsula [north of Nome - true] and some of those miners haven't been in civilized company for two years or more. The airline tends to keep them separate from the rest of us until we get to Anchorage."

 

Eyes wide, she bought it.

 

I hope you don't mind. I emailed this story to my mom who used to fly Wienie bird a lot.

[Traveller20074]

What time is the midnight buffet?

 

Do they take American money in Alaska? (Yes, someone actually asked that on CC.)

 

While we are in Alaska, are we still in the U. S.?

 

 

 

lolol!!

[dustyroad]

will the elevator take me too the front of the ship . they still only go up and down.

[MichFish]

I went to school in Juneau and had the opportunity to work with tourists....... some of my favs:

 

While working at the front desk of a hotel - a couple comes screaming in to tell me to call the fire department because there is a massive forest fire..... I explained that was unlikely - Juneau being in a rain forest and all - they insisted - I walked out to see what they were talking about - it was the northern lights.

 

In summers - I lived in Halibut Cove and met a boat that would come over from Homer - - - I got asked a number of times - while literally standing on the dock next to the boat - which happens to be floating ON THE SEA - what is the elevation here?

 

While living in Halibut Cove - I'd come over to Homer for weekly grocery shopping - I shopped for a B&B - so there was a substantial amount of groceries involved. While unloading at the dock to get the groceries on the boat to go to Halibut Cove - I would hear all sorts of comments about how long was MY fishing trip going to last?

 

While working at the hotel - several ppl would hollar about the lack of AC - yea - ok - its 65 degrees - OPEN A WINDOW!

 

When calling home - if guests were over - several would tell my parents that they would leave because it must be really hard for me to get to a phone...... Yea - I had to walk all the way downstairs in my apartment! It was rough!

 

I ran into a guy in Juneau - at the Shrine of St. Therese who was picking up salmon from upstream and walking them back to the ocean because he thought they were tired........ I mentioned that their goal in life was to make it up that stream before they died - and he probably wasn't helping them much.

[kruczer3]

:eek:

NOW I HAVE COFFEE ALL OVER MY SCREEEN!!! :D

 

Hope you explained that no- just Russia.

I would have said.. NO. But you can see the WHITE HOUSE!! and Lmao.. about your coffee!!

[Deb in Cali]

I ran into a guy in Juneau - at the Shrine of St. Therese who was picking up salmon from upstream and walking them back to the ocean because he thought they were tired........ I mentioned that their goal in life was to make it up that stream before they died - and he probably wasn't helping them much.

 

 

That is my favorite.

 

We see and hear a lot from the local tourists that are heading to Yosemite, Sequoia, or Kings Canyon. I am continously amazed at the stupidity of people that think that wild animals are our friends if we would only talk to them. I call this the Disney effect.

 

I have also seem young ladies "hiking" in Yosemite in high heels.