June 30th

THE DETAILS:

THE WEATHER: 55 degrees and cloudy. A bit drizzly. Nothin’ new! The clouds did break today and we ended up with partly cloudy skies and a high of 77.

THE DISTANCE: 30 miles to Golden Nugget Camper Park


Okay, as we inch along we have made it to Anchorage! It is by far the largest city in Alaska. We found a campsite pretty much in the middle of the city but it is by a park so it is much better than the first one we looked at which was right next to the train station and in the warehouse section of the city! We are settled in for a few days. The festivities of July 4th are going to cause the campgrounds to be full so we thought with everything to see here in Anchorage we may just stay and wait out the holiday weekend.


After hooking up we took the scooter out for a scouting trip. First we went to the Visitor’s Center in the middle of the city. It is a cute little one room log house standing next to all these modern high rise buildings. It looked so out of place, but for Alaska it was the high rises that actually seemed out of place. Anchorage has been named the “City of Flowers” because of the many hanging baskets and blossoms everywhere down town. It was very pretty. We visited the Ulu factory which is a particular Eskimo knife that is made right here in Anchorage. They are sold all over the state so you can find them everywhere.

We were close to the river where the salmon enter to swim up stream. There were a few guys fishing but not many. Once again confirming that the fishing is just not that great. From there we drove along Cook Inlet which was very pretty. We could see large barges in the water. They say there are times that you can view beluga whales in the inlet. We didn’t see any. There were multiple parks along the inlet so we continued to stop, take some pictures & move on. The last park we visited was Kincaid park where they warn you of moose & bear in the park. As Gary was taking some video of the inlet a moose ran right into the picture! We were on a porch above the ground and everyone below us started yelling to each other, “moose!”, “moose”! They didn’t seem alarmed, just informing those around them. I love this city, very picturesque, the population seems young, and everyone was out riding bikes or running/ walking. It has a very vibrant feel to it.

I think Gary is interested in trying his skills at fishing tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens. We heard that the “real” party on the 4th of July happens in Seward. That’s south of us and on our way to where we’re headed, so we’ll think about moving in that direction tomorrow or maybe the 2nd. There is a problem with fireworks here though. The sun doesn’t go away! It doesn’t get dark enough to see them. I was told by the Visitor’s Center that they have a big double-header ball game which takes them until midnight to finish and then they shoot them off in the ball field and just don’t send them up very high so they don’t get lost in the sky. Too funny! I never thought about that until today. I think I’d rather be on Bridge Street in Manchester with the home gang. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.