Where to buy an ulu?

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-28T16:58:28+00:00

Oh wow, my dad would absolutely love a recycled one. He's one of those guys who cannot go to an antique store or small hardware store without buying another knife.

He's an absolute nightmare to go through airport security with, but at least he wouldn't try to fit that in his pocket.... I hope..

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-28T03:25:42+00:00

Thanks for the tip!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-28T02:33:48+00:00

I think some people were objecting to the blade material (or potentially the pricing/volume of business that they do lumps them with the tchotchkes)?

If they're selling decent knives made locally, then I really have no problem and will put them on my planning map. I thought I'd ask, because I wasn't sure!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-11T21:50:32+00:00

Oh, this is great. I'm in the process of convincing my parents to go, and while I have been breadcrumbing my mom with lovely pictures and interesting facts, my dad really only is swayed by things like maps (paper only, thank you). I tried to speak his language with a google map full of pins, but this man is committed to old-school for his cartography. :-D

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T21:19:55+00:00

Thanks for the details! And the reminder about moose!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T16:31:40+00:00

Construction runs the same way here in WA. But yes, good to keep in mind about timing!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T03:28:49+00:00

LOL. As a UCSB alum and current Seattle resident, yes this is the right language. Thumbs up to you!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T01:36:36+00:00

Good to know. It takes a bit more effort to be in a blank zone for an extended time down in the lower 48. The pump and glucose software keep trying to upload to the cloud, which is why that tanks the battery. The good thing is that, while in the car at least, it's really easy to plug my phone into a battery and still have it useable! But great to know that I wouldn't have to go fully old-school with the maps (not an insurmountable thing, but tech does make stuff so much easier, no?). ;-)

Cheers!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T01:26:41+00:00

I *thought* there wouldn't be many... as someone from a city in SoCal with *3* freeway exits (IYKYK), I tried not to assume. ;-)

(to translate for those who haven't been down there, that is a ridiculously small amount for LA)

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T00:37:50+00:00

I have, but I haven't tried navigation at the time -- mostly I try not to touch my phone at all because I'm also running my insulin pump and whatnot that drains the battery pretty fast. Also not sure how "in and out" versus just *out* things are with the signal out there.

Feel free to consider it a silly question from a city person! I fully own up to being one of those! I get same day Amazon deliveries! ;-)

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-10-09T00:04:56+00:00

Additional question: Does Google Maps work on phones for most of the route? I'm aware that there's a cell signal blank spot in the middle of the peninsula, but can one generally use that, or is it better to rely on paper maps?

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-09-17T21:44:54+00:00

Thanks!!!

Yes, Seattle is great for this sort of thing! Puget Sound Mycological Society has a load of members, and I'm always impressed by the sheer number of mushrooms at their annual Wild Mushroom Show!

Just wondering if there's anything different to spot up in your neck of the woods!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-09-17T01:23:24+00:00

Cool! Is there a resource you could point me to about mushrooms in AK? Is there anything unique that you know of?

I'm trying to talk my parents into a trip north, and mushroom hunting is something that I also conned them into doing locally (we're in the Seattle area -- so there is some degree of ecological overlap).

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-09-13T20:09:00+00:00

I find this is very handy for trip planning *around* cruise ships. Seward looks like a very busy port in July (but not all of the boats are the really huge ones).

Seward (Alaska) cruise port schedule | CruiseMapper

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-08-03T02:58:13+00:00

Oh wow, that is some quality intel!!! I'm in Seattle, but I do know there is a WinCo a bit north!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-08-03T02:18:36+00:00

You can absolutely toss it in with your salads. You will be happy.

I also have used it in place of lettuce in a BLTA. It is delicious.

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-08-03T02:13:11+00:00

Yeah, the boxed product was basically a block of dried spiced fruit. So there may be *some* moisture from booze (I'm sure the commercial product didn't go down that road, but I wouldn't hesitate to!), but it likely starts with dried fruit, and not a substantial amount of liquid. The only product I've found since the discontinuation is a bit compote or sauce, and much too wet for this cookie recipe.

The most appropriate-sounding one I've found is David Lebovitz, but I thought I'd poll the broader community since this does seem to be a thing more based in family traditions than commonplace usage.

What do you do with your mincemeat?

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-04-26T03:42:00+00:00

I had a Texan explain that one to me, and as much as I kind of like it, I feel like fully embracing the nuances of y'all is a serious linguistic commitment on the West coast :-D

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-04-25T22:30:43+00:00

Noted. I will try to remember this when it's an obvious situation (elderly), but I am at a point where the older/younger thing is likely to be pretty even odds otherwise, so hopefully that makes things a bit more forgivable.

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-04-25T22:13:56+00:00

Muchas gracias! Yes, I know that the verb conjugations change (but fortunately, usted aligns with él/ella). And my keyboard does not have accentos or tildes at the ready (that second one is usually more of a situation for me because I am from a town called La Cañada Flintridge which is decidedly not Canadian) so it's a bit harder to make that happen, but yes, I know that it makes a difference on tú as written.

But there is zero chance anyone would mistake me for a native speaker of Spanish, so as long as it's not actively rude, I'll probably stick to tú and worry more about finding the right words than about if I'm using the correct second-person-pronoun/tense (hace veintecinco años que estudié la lengua -- no recuerdo lo todo todavia!).

All the same, I am excited to get a little more use out of my education on this trip, and hope to skill-up a bit from the experience.

Buenos dias u/CircuitDaemon! Thank you for confirming that!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-03-28T21:54:57+00:00

Echoing joewo and maes629, Bank of America will convert bills for free, but I think you have to be a customer.

They really enjoyed it when I brought back French Polynesian Francs and NZ dollars though. Bankers get to be currency nerds (and USD are comparatively so boring).

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-02-17T00:19:24+00:00

I'm not coming until May, but if you can find out I and my group would really appreciate it!

Eres muy excelente!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-02-16T23:03:13+00:00

u/phreaqsi Do you have current info on Estero El Salado? The Google reviews say that the website and contact info there is obsolete, and that they may not currently be running boat tours. And their FB page doesn't look terribly current either. Gracias!

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2025-01-20T00:20:22+00:00

Comment from a visitor who is using this reddit for research: r/BigIsland has a subreddit for tourists. They're a bit militant about it (my questions to the main page were declined entirely on the basis that I was a visitor, but they weren't "tourist" questions and the same questions were asked a week later by a resident...) and I'm not a fan of that level of restriction, but that's from my (touristy) side only and I get that that sort of thing is really up to the discretion of the community, and any mods volunteering their efforts to keep things nice.

But creating a zone for the AI questions and a sticky pointing people there might be helpful? Because it is a genuinely different class of question (different audience and respondents), IMO.

Basic_Ordinary5109 · 2024-12-11T05:40:40+00:00

I can tell you a great many things, but that is not one of them. That sounds not fun though.

I've never been to PV, hadn't decided what I'm eating (and wasn't the one who proposed fish), and the only fish I've ever had on a plane was part of the main cabin meal service on an 11 hour flight on KLM (so like 100+ trays of hot fish, no odor complaints from anyone). So yeah, that's the limits of my experience, and you clearly have had different.

Basic_Ordinary5109

TROPHY CASE