Anchorage: Retrospection and final evaluation

 

We always planned on visiting Alaska, but were a little uncertain about moving there. We thought it might be a place best seen in a couple weeks or from the security of a cruise ship, not a place to commit to for three months. Thankfully we chose to commit!

The difference between visiting Alaska and living there is similar to the difference between camp-site camping and backpacking. Sure, metaphorically we didn't hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. We didn't live there through a winter or visit any remote native villages. We're not residents or experts, but I feel like we got a really good idea of the area. 

Good-bye Roseburg / Hello San Francisco!

Our apartment in San Fran

Next city, San Fran!

Last year, we chose to live in Fresno just to be near San Francisco and it was the closest we could get at the time. Now, we're actually going to live there!

I'm pretty excited. I think it will be really interesting. We've already been told that two of the three other tenants in our building are IT professionals and none of them have a car. We're looking forward to finding a couple decent bikes and living in the Richmond neighborhood, just a couple miles from the beach, the Presidio, and Golden Gate Park.

It's an interesting time to live in San Francisco. As housing continues to rise, there are a lot of protests against the very IT professionals the Bay Area is known for. It's a microcosm of the future war that's been predicted to eventually happen between AI advocates and future luddites, and, more importantly, a debate that will continue to occur as the wealth gap increases. In San Francisco, discontent has surfaced as public protests against the private Google and Facebook commuter buses that workers take from San Fran to their jobs in Palo Alto. Airbnb was recently in the press being blamed for increased housing costs by filling apartments with short-term tourists instead of long-term tenants. 

I'll be researching why diverse housing is such a big issue while we're there. Obviously, diversity is beneficial, but what is the argument for tampering with capitalism? Why aren't people who can't afford housing just expected to move to an area they can afford? Will the economy collapse if there aren't any minimum wage workers? I'm entirely ignorant on the issue...

Ever since we found out we were going to San Fran next, anything related to the city has been catching my eye. We watched the Disney move Inside Out last night and noticed all the San Frannery in the background. We experienced an unsettling earthquake in Anchorage and aren't too keen on the idea of a repeat, so we'll skip watching San Andreas. I did some research into earthquake prediction and the 1908 and 1989 earthquakes -- "Duck and cover!"

We leave tomorrow and are going to stop along the way to check out Sacramento. I'll write more when we actually get there. Here are a couple articles of interest:

The $600-a-month shipping container village for young professionals getting creative to avoid staggering rents in San Francisco

Tenderloin Photos

Finally, a clip from Inside Out of the family moving to San Fran. I was able to guess where they were moving to, and where they were moving from just by seeing the three transition clips. We experienced something similar along our travels through South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah.

Portland: Meh

I mentioned a couple posts back that Portland has been on our wish-list since the very beginning of our adventures. After putting down roots in Denver, we were always a little concerned that we'd eventually get a chance to live in Portland and wish we had held out. Our concern was unnecessary.

Portland wasn't the magical utopia other visitors, my exaggerated expectations, and Portlandia promised me it would be.

To be sure, it was a neat place. It seems like a great city to live in; a high-quality place to try new things and meet other healthy people; a great home for harder to please millennials who aspire to higher things than making babies and $$$. I assume if I lived there any period of time instead of just nearby, I'd find nuanced aspects to appreciate and write about. I'd fall in love like I've done with every place we've been. BUT, from the couple visits we made, I wasn't blown away; far from it. Our first visit sucked.

International Rose Garden

Aside from being spoiled and having visited and lived in some of the best cities in the country, I think the reason Portland didn't meet my expectation is that the city is no longer the outlier its reputation is built on. There is a revolution of sorts going on across the country, down through the rustbelt and even in our home base of Johnson City, TN. It's a very tame revolution that involves mainly microbreweries, anarchist bookstores, shared spaces, and tea shoppes; but to some extent it also involves things that matter more like veganism, tolerance, and opposition to progress traps. Portland has accomplished a lot on those fronts, but other cities are catching up.

It's a dumb example, but I'm going to use it: Portland has around 58 breweries while Denver has around 52. Six breweries don't make a noticeable difference, particularly when you think Denver beer is better. Make something besides IPAs, Portland!

This example applies nicely to other progress indicators like the number of people biking to work, art funding, public transportation, parks, environmental awareness, dog-friendliness, and libertarian law. When the numbers are this close, Portland becomes less attractive. It wasn't as clean as Dallas. It

Denver: Final post and rating

Anyone who has talked to us recently knows Denver has been our favorite city. But I've had trouble explaining why. Denver is so much more than the 16th Street Mall. More than beer, marijuana, and the Rocky Mountains. It's kind of like dating where it sometimes takes getting to know someone to really appreciate what you've found.

Conveying everything we've found and learned to like about Denver is too overwhelming . It amounts to hundreds of small high-quality realizations instead of a small number of sensational experiences. Even though it's great to visit, Denver is the kind of place that's even better to live in.

After living in each city, we've been giving it a personal rating to track our opinions and decide where we want to settle. Read this if you're unfamiliar with our ratings. Previous city ratings: Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Fresno.

Denver

Culture: 8

Union Station

Denver has a vibrant art scene on par with much bigger cities. There are multiple art districts. Each district with its own character and collection of small working studios. The largest, Santa Fe Arts District has 100+ galleries.

The music scene is equally dense with more concerts and music venues than Austin. It wasn't uncommon to skip a great concert because there were so many other things going on. Red Rocks gets the fame, but there are a number of other great outdoors venues.

Street markets, festivals, dog bars, cat cafes, costumed bike rides, coffee houses, book signings, comedy, theater, independent theaters, local

Philadelphia: Seaport Museum and Holiday Parade

Highlights from another week in Philadelphia:
(Other posts here: Week One / Week Two / Week Three)


West Chester Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade: This was surprisingly entertaining. The streets and restaurants were crowded, but not impossibly packed. We found a great restaurant after seeing lines in the street into downtown restaurants by looking for something a few blocks from the parade route. We didn't have trouble finding sidewalk space to watch from. The parade moves in a rectangle so it's possible to stand  at the intersection where the parade both starts and ends to see everything twice.

Even stormtroopers celebrate Christmas!

Evil elves attack!