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Tia’s Gourmet (Anchorage, AK)

When we first arrived in Anchorage, we walked around the downtown area checking out a few art galleries while waiting for lunch. It’s a bit of a touristy area, with more than a few places hawking tourist trinkets, fishing expeditions, and the like. And one thing you can’t miss while walking around the Town Square Park or Old City Hall Park is a rather large number of street carts serving up…. reindeer sausages. We originally opted not to indulge on our first visit since we had lunch plans, but as we wrapped up our short trip to Alaska, we drove back into downtown Anchorage to turn in our Turo rental car, pick up a few items from a nice little art gallery, and stop by and check out one of them: Tia’s Gourmet Hot Dogs and Alaska Reindeer Sausage.

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Spoonline Bistro (Girdwood, AK)

While most of my breakfasts in Girdwood involved getting sourdough pancakes at The Bake Shop, we did go branch out and try some of the other places in town. In particular, Spoonline Bistro over in “downtown” Girdwood generally had a quite a following as well, with most mornings having a line almost as long as The Bake Shop. So we decided to check it out.

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The Bake Shop (Girdwood, AK)

Our home base in Girdwood was a small studio condo at the base of the Alyeska resort ski slope, and even when we first checked in, there was a noticeable pleasant aroma of baking bread and spices. On our first trip back out to the parking lot to get the rest of our luggage, we immediately discovered why: the front door to the condo building exits pretty much directly into the outdoor dining patio for The Bake Shop, one of the primary breakfast joints in Girdwood.

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Girdwood Izakaya (Girdwood, AK)

For most of our stay in Alaska, we were staying at an AirBnB condo in Girdwood, Alaska, a small resort town located in a valley east of Anchorage along the Turnagain Arm. Girdwood is primarily known for the Alyeska Ski Resort that actually constitutes the majority of the town. Aside from the resort itself, Girdwood is actually a pretty small town, but it has a handful of restaurants, a few smaller stores, and a brewery: Girdwood Brewing. Girdwood Brewing is just a small craft brewery without its own food service (unfortunately, that means that the brewery itself has to close at 8pm due to liquor laws, which in July in Alaska is ridiculously early). Instead, Girdwood has a rotating selection of local food trucks set up shop in their parking lot. During our visit, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the rotating food truck was Girdwood Izakaya.

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49th State Brewing (Anchorage, AK)

After a mere five days of rest and relaxation at home, we again headed back to the airport, and headed back out on another vacation, this time, to Anchorage, Alaska, to attend a wedding of two former coworkers. After a rather complicated day involving canceled flights, maintenance problems on the rescheduled flights, and an extended delay at Newark Airport (home of some of the most ridiculously overpriced food ever), we finally arrived in Anchorage at the airport, 24 hours after starting our trip. We simply headed to our hotel, and called it a night. The next morning, after taking care of rental car arrangements, and some light exploration of downtown Anchorage, we met up with a local Anchorage friend and headed out for lunch at 49th State Brewing.

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