So, we pulled into the parking lot and went inside to find some food.<\/p>\n
Carr’s grocery stores was an Alaskan chain. Safeway (known as Von’s in L.A. where we live) moved up to alaska I don’t know when. But as long as I could remember, Carr’s worked their butts off to make their grocery stores a dream of what a grocery store could be.<\/p>\n
Deli counters and in-store bakeries are de riguer<\/em> now, but those were always part of Carr’s, even back in the 80s. Plus, a full service espresso bar, and an ice cream counter.\u00a0 They had a HUGE produce section, which for Alaska is no small feat. There was also a large, several aisles worth of health food selections, sort of like a Whole Foods–Gluten-Free, Carob, granola, what have you.<\/p>\n Pretty much anything you could imagine that a grocery store might possibly have, they had. Because they wanted to run Safeway into the ground. The standard for grocery stores in Alaska was very high.<\/p>\n After I moved away, Safeway bought Carr’s. End of an era.<\/p>\n So I expected that the quality would have also fallen. Maybe they wouldn’t be 24 hours anymore. Maybe they would have shut down the ice cream counter or the espresso bar.<\/p>\n The people who told me that Safeway owned Carr’s sounded sad and disgusted with the situation.<\/p>\n But the store was even BIGGER. I know for sure it was bigger because I remember that part of the strip mall being a fabric store. Now the grocery store had taken over that space.<\/p>\n There was a whole long aisle of nothing but all varieties of chips. My grocery store here in L.A. has maybe a half aisle.<\/p>\n I was happy to avail myself of their bathroom, a\u00a0 welcome change to a flush toilet after the outhouse earlier.<\/p>\n The donuts were very fresh, still being transferred from the baker’s racks to the clear-door cabnets. I took a fritter and Chris got a bagel.<\/p>\n Then I wanted a coffee. Alaska has the best<\/em> coffee.<\/p>\n We went back to the car. I looked around in this familiar strip mall to see what was changed.<\/p>\n This surprised me: A Kaladi brothers coffee<\/a> shop in Wasilla. I regretted getting my coffee from the Carr’s now. I remembered how they had brought espresso to Alaska when I was a teenager and how it was SO GOOD.<\/p>\n Well, a rising tide lifts all the boats. My\u00a0 coffee was better than anything I’d had in California in many years.<\/p>\n “Did the coffee wake you up?” Chris asked.<\/p>\n “MMmm..it’s good. I feel better. But I still want to sleep. Maybe we could stay here?”<\/p>\n “It’s too crowded,” he said.<\/p>\n “um….Maybe we could go see Hatcher’s Pass.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’d passed it at least 4 times, but the Carr’s grocery store right next to McDOnald’s had a big sign with orange letters OPEN 24 So, we pulled into the parking lot and went inside to find some food. Carr’s … Continue reading
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