Notes from Howard's Sabbatical from Working. The name comes from a 1998 lunch conversation. Someone asked if everything man knew was on the web. I answered "no" and off the top of my head said "Fidel Castro's favorite color". About every 6-12 months I've searched for this. It doesn't show up in the first 50 Google results (this blog is finally first for that search), AskJeeves says it's: red.
When I visited my father and oldest sister in Willow, AK six years ago (2002) I and my family stayed a half hour away in a hotel in Wasilla. Being from New England, in comparison Wasilla looked fairly grim: few trees, single major road populated with large chain stores and fast food. Wasilla had clearly had a recent growth spurt and it was bustling with construction. My daily runs were dust filled since the roads were temporary gravel ones due to construction. The hotel though (Best Western Lake Lucille) was very nice! I found just about every other place I've been to in AK more attractive.
It is hard to compare Wasilla to a comparably sized Massachusetts town because Wasilla is "the big city" for the surrounding area in a way that you don't have in MA. It has many more services available than you would find in an equivalent sized MA town.
I don't think Palin is entirely responsible for the growth of the town. Geographically, Wasilla is well situated to be a regional center. Most Alaskans seem to value development over growth restrictions.
My last visit to Wasilla was just a drive by two years ago when I helped my dad and sister move down to Washington. We did stop to shop at Fred Meyer's (big western chain whose stores make Walmart stores look puny) to stock up with supplies for our trip. Thank you Wasilla!
2 comments:
One New Englander's opinion of Wasilla:
When I visited my father and oldest sister in Willow, AK six years ago (2002) I and my family stayed a half hour away in a hotel in Wasilla. Being from New England, in comparison Wasilla looked fairly grim: few trees, single major road populated with large chain stores and fast food. Wasilla had clearly had a recent growth spurt and it was bustling with construction. My daily runs were dust filled since the roads were temporary gravel ones due to construction. The hotel though (Best Western Lake Lucille) was very nice! I found just about every other place I've been to in AK more attractive.
It is hard to compare Wasilla to a comparably sized Massachusetts town because Wasilla is "the big city" for the surrounding area in a way that you don't have in MA. It has many more services available than you would find in an equivalent sized MA town.
I don't think Palin is entirely responsible for the growth of the town. Geographically, Wasilla is well situated to be a regional center. Most Alaskans seem to value development over growth restrictions.
My last visit to Wasilla was just a drive by two years ago when I helped my dad and sister move down to Washington. We did stop to shop at Fred Meyer's (big western chain whose stores make Walmart stores look puny) to stock up with supplies for our trip. Thank you Wasilla!
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