Digs, your mom sounds exactly like my wife. Very funny. Or very sad. She is an artist, so some years ago I got her an iPad (ver 2) She loved it to take pictures of her paintings, and then we showed her how to write emails home in Japanese, which she grasped. Now she uses a smartphone to watch YouTube videos and occasionally Google for something, so at 91 that ain’t bad. But ordering anything from Amazon or anything else is not beyond her but she just does not enjoy it.
Incidentally, I use Duck Duck Go for searching as it does not let anybody track you, but it is a bit awkward to say “I DuckDckGo-ed it.”
I can understand it for anybody of the older generations or as you wrote, the Olde Phartes (a Colonial time phrase). not being able to grasp the complexity of computers. To try to master the whole thing in one fell swoop is a bit much Or is that “Swell foop?”
Have you ever tried virtual reality? On my Oculus Go I really like an app called Wander which is basically Google Street View in VR. I believe other devices have excellent implementations of Google Earth. Your wife might enjoy it too.
In particular I find that “visiting” places from my past is a very relaxing experience not least in these times. Sometimes I recreate my walk to school from 35 years back; the place has changed remarkably little.
Dang, dude; I thought I was getting old, but you’ve got 20 years on me.
My parents and I traveled the Alcan in 1959. It was still a dirt road from the Alaska border all the way down to Dawson Creek, and it was rough as a cob. Our '54 Ford lost its muffler and the radiator welds broke loose. We rolled into Dawson with the fan blade clanging against the radiator and with about two inches of dust on everything. Hell of a trip.
Wow, Chefguy, y’all were lucky not to have to walk to Dawson. How old were you then, I can’t do the arithmetic? Were you living in Fairbanks, or just taking a road trip?
I was 12 at the time and we had moved to Anchorage from Juneau two years earlier. That trip was the trigger that became wanderlust after I left home. We drove to Montana, then through Yellowstone and over to Portland, visiting grandparents. Bought a used '57 Ford in Portland and had adventures all the way back to Anchorage. My only regret in all that was that we missed the big statehood celebration while we were gone.
I’ve made the drive south on the Alcan twice since then, once with my stepfather and then again when my wife and I retired and left the state. By then the road had been paved all the way through and gas stations were more plentiful.
Yeah the Oculus Go which is what I have was a great value at $200 but apparently is discontinued. You might want to look at the Oculus Quest which is $400 but provides a much better experience.
They may also launch a new version of the Go sometime: I am guessing Covid has messed up with their launch plans.
You know, Chefguy, I think we discussed things Alaska a long time ago.
When I was there there was still no road from Anchorage to Fairbanks, just the railroad. As I recall, it only had one track and one train, up and back. Somewhere in Fairbanks they had the very first old steam engine on the system on display.
Actually, the Richardson Highway and the Glenn Highway were built early on and allowed travel by car from Anchorage to Fairbanks by the 1940s. The Alaska Highway terminated at Delta Junction, where it connected to the Richardson. Much later (1971), The Parks Highway or Anchorage-Fairbanks Highway was built from Palmer, AK to Fairbanks. That highway cut out the need to traverse the much longer route of Anchorage-Tok Junction-Fairbanks, and a winter drive that was/is treacherous at best.
OK, Chef, you are the expert. Not having a car, I was told by somebody, who obviously wrong, that there was only one way go get down to Anchorage. We were shipped from Ft Lewes to Seward where we boarded the train. It stopped only once in Anchorage. Can’t remember how long it took to get to Fairbanks, but it was a very secnic ride the first part.
Yeah, nice train ride. I rode the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks when I went to the university there. I’ve also taken the train from Anchorage to the Spencer Glacier stop on the way to Seward.
