We checked out of the condo and headed into Anchorage.
A lot of suitcases packed really full!
We visited the Alaska Candy Store that claims to have the world's largest chocolate fall. Turns out it was not running, but we went in the store and bought a couple treats.
World's Largest Chocolate Fall
From there we went to Point Woronzof Park, which is a city park where, from the beach, you can see views of Fire Island and multiple mountain ranges, including Denali. We believe we got to see Denali again from this point as shown below. (But they did not have a helpful sign like they had in the park to confirm if we were looking at the right place.)
You also can watch planes land since the airport is right behind this park. Pretty cool.
Denali from Point Woronzof Park.
The beach at Point Woronzof Park
Nearby we found Earthquake Park, which had some great displays explaining more about the devastating 1964 earthquake that killed over 100 people.
We went to the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in downtown Anchorage to kill time and found it had some great exhibits. We also watched 15-30 minute movies about
the people of Sitka (No, it was not the Paxtons from The Proposal.)
the 1964 earthquake
the 1896 Klondike gold rush
the bears in Katmai National Park
All of them were good and information, although we might have napped through some sections.
Next we visited a couple souvenir shops in the Mushing District and stopped at a street vendor for a reindeer dog. It was pretty tastly!
It says Chicago is 2839 air miles - 2nd sign from the top on the left
Reindeer dog for lunch
Looks like it hit the spot
There were 2 of these vendors on the same street. The one we ate at is listed on Google maps so must always be there.
View of the Mushing District / shopping area of Anchorage and mountains in the background.
One of the "justice totem poles" by the courthouse.
We went to a coffee shop and did a little bit more walking before dropping Dad and Carol off at the airport. Since we had a couple more hours to kill before our midnight flight home, we stopped by two breweries in the area: Ship Creek Brewing and Brewerks. Apparently Ship Creek is the newest brewery in Alaska at about 5 months old. There are a lot of breweries, so hopefully they survive.
One thing we learned is that, until recently, breweries could not stay open past 8 pm. They have since extended it to 9pm. Also, a person can only be served 36oz at a brewery visit, but there is no such limit at bars or restaurants.
Dave had #1 and Lynda had #8. We liked them both.
The owner of Brewerks was a super social guy, and we ended up talking to him for over an hour and at least a half hour after closing time. He spent many years in a smaller village in Northwestern Alaska (think way out there) and had some great stories. We tried to educate him on the finer points of Chicago pizza, but we aren't sure we changed his mind. The beer was good - probably the best we had on the trip.
We had Shop Lion, All Along the Briny, The Big Goat and Midnight Mistress.
The owner let us walk around, so we did!
There was a door with stickers on it at the brewery. On the middle right, near the 2nd hinge from the bottom, is a Calusa Brewing sticker. They are in Sarasota and we visited there with good friends a couple years ago.
We finally got to the Anchorage airport. This picture was taken after 10pm. In fact, there was still some daylight when we boarded at 11:50pm!
There are nice mountain views from the airport
Our last moose sighting of the trip
From our seat on United - shows 2843 miles back home
We had an amazing trip and would definitely do something like it again in the future. Dave would be happy to do this same trip again, but Lynda is less inclined simply because the roads were rough. But, we can both agree that we want to go back to Alaska some day!
We might post a recap this week yet of things we learned along the way as first time RVers including taking a look at things we packed that
Our hike at the Byron Glacier Trailhead was delayed by this guy's hike!
This morning we headed back towards Whittier to do the Byron Glacier Trail. We saw a mama moose and a baby moose crossing the road. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a photo until they were in the woods. While we scrambled to take a picture, the mama got through the brush. The baby looked like it was trying to get through the brush, but ended up falling to the ground - maybe to hide itself before it got back up and scurried to mom’s side.
You can see the darker legs of the Mama to the right of the main pine tree and the baby's lighter colored legs to its left.
When we got to trailhead, there was a bear there. We took several pictures while we waited for 15-20 minutes to see what he would do. He munched on grass for a bit and then headed off on our trail!
He looks like he is snarling here.
Carol got this video too!
More people started showing up including a group with a dog. They started off on the hike, and we figured when the dog started barking the bear probably ran away into the woods, so we decided to head out on the hike too.
There were a couple patches along the trail that were snow covered as shown below, but mostly we walked on a crushed gravel path through a valley. We were able to see the glacier and an area where there had been an avalanche.
Byron Glacier
Byron Glacier plus remnants of an avalanche.
We thought it was funny to see this bratwurst in the water. Some bear will find it to be a tasty treat later.
We passed about 40-50 people on our way back from the hike, so we were grateful for our timing. When we got back to the parking lot, we were surprised to see that the bear was back, so we had to take a few more pictures of course!
Of course we had to take a couple selfies too - from a safe distance!
We stopped at the visitor center for a bathroom break and to take a picture of pretty Portage Lake. It is much prettier when the sun is shining!
After a short break back at the condo, we headed into Anchorage to drop off some stuff at Goodwill. On our way, we saw 2 young male moose. One was in someone’s front yard munching on their plants. While to us these animals are a novelty and are fun to watch, we imagine the locals find them to be a bit of a nuisance.
We next ran into Costco to check out their clothing to see if they had anything special or different. They didn’t, but we’ve never seen a commercial fish net at ours! This thing was taller than Lynda. They also had a two-pack of bear-spray for $42.99! That is a good deal, but we cannot get it home on the plane. And, of course, the bigger thing is that we do not need it in Illinois!
Alaska's tulip season is a bit later than in Chicago
On our way back to the condo, we stopped at the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. They have long boardwalks over the marsh that branch off in a couple directions and little turnoffs with signs with interesting information how this place was formed and about the wildlife in the area.
The Potter Marsh area used to be open to the Turnagain Arm, but when they built an embankment for the Alaska Railroad in 1917, they restricted the flow of Rabbit Creek and other sources and (accidentally) created the marsh.
When we were there, a volunteer had a viewing scope fixed on an eagle’s nest. There were three baby eaglets inside. We could also see Mama and Papa in a tree nearby. They were too far away to get a picture, but Lynda can draw one if folks are interested.
We also saw other ducks, swans and birds including this cute little bird peeking its head of the house. We think it was a swallow. We finally headed home to do a final load of laundry and take a short nap before Steve made us all a spaghetti dinner!
Sidwell Snoozers
We haven't had an early evening yet, so tonight will probably be one so we can start packing before we check out tomorrow. Our flight is not until midnight, so we will have some time to do some more exploring in Anchorage.
One of the few snow-free areas on our Horsetail Falls Trail hike
This morning, Dave took a 7am work call from the deck. When Lynda took this picture, she noticed that the deck looks to be larger than the RV!
After we decided to nix the rafting trip because of 45 degree drizzly weather, we headed into Whittier to do some hikes. We passed through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel which is both the longest highway tunnel and the longest combined highway/railway tunnel in North America. The tunnel is only one direction of traffic at a time, so once an hour each direction goes.
It is a narrow, dimly lit tunnel that is 13,200 ft in length. The speed limit is 25mph so it takes 6 min to get through. Dave took a picture and short time lapse video while Lynda kept her eyes closed for most of it both directions.
The entrance to the tunnel. You can see the railroad track veering off to the left.
Short video through tunnel
Longer, time-lapsed video
The city of Whittier is a port but was not much to see in terms of shopping, etc. Plus it was a gray drizzly day, so we continued through to do a hike.
The port for smaller boats in Whittier. There is also a port for cruise ships.
Whittier has a population of 273. The 14-story Begich Tower building shown below is where more than half of the residents live. (Dave looked it up on Zillow, and there is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom unit available for $159,900 if you are interested!) Apparently there is a 2nd place called Whittier Manor where the rest of the folks live.
Begich Tower
The Portage Pass Trail was on our list but because of the snow and difficulty/steepness, we switched the Horsetail Falls trail. We tried to take a skinny gravel road up to the trailhead but had to stop because of snow. We decided to continue to do the hike despite the snow. It was quite the challenge and adventure (and made most of us feel rather uncoordinated).
This is the first pile of snow that we could not go past in the car
The truck in the upper right must have driven there last fall
After a couple hundred yards of snow, we found a patch of solid ground.
Our view from part way up. The abandoned building is Buckner Building. It was built in 1953 by the military and was once the largest building in Alaska. (and is kind of creepy)
Steve and Carol plus a view looking back over the Price William Sound
This bridge is along the path we were supposed to be traveling along - so much snow!
We eventually found the real trail and were able to follow it for a couple hundred feet. They stapled roof shingles on it for traction.
We made it up at least 2/3 of the way with ALL of us sinking a leg into knee or thigh-high deep snow at least one time.
It is challenging to get yourself out of a hole once your leg sinks!
We did manage to get pictures of what we believe was Horsetail Falls and saw some pretty views overlooking Whittier and the Sound...
Brittney forging our path
Lynda and Carol taking a breather.
Near the middle of the picture you can see Brittney again leading the way
Dave, Brittney, Carol and Lynda with a glimpse of Horsetail Falls. (The tiny white line to the right of the tall pine tree.) We look like we are standing in front of a green screen but it was real!
Brit went a little farther than us - she is hunched over at the left side of the screen near the tip of the tree along with diagonal line:
Here was Brittney's view of the next ridge.
Dave and Carol on our descent.
This is where one of Lynda's legs sunk thigh deep in the snow!
At one point on the way down where we were maneuvering around groups of trees, Lynda was commenting on how much moose would probably like that area since there were leafy branches accessible. At that time, a tree branch must have been released from snow cover, because it sprung forward and scared the bejeezus out of Lynda and Dave.
Along the route, there were many pink-tinged areas that Lynda was convinced was where a bloody carcass had been dragged through. But Dave and Brittney assured her that it is an algae that forms on top of the snow.
You can use the map below to visit Dave at his new cabin:
Have you ever seen a sign like this?
This is a view of the Portage Glacier in the distance as we await our turn to re-enter the tunnel. (in the lower corner you can also see the start of a long track for a piece of heavy equipment being hauled on the semi.)
We stopped at the Begich Boggs Visitor Center on the way back out of Whittier. The visitor center was very nice and worth a visit. At the very least, be sure to get a picture with the "life-sized" model of Smokey Bear - as advertised in the Milepost book. (they know he isn't real, right? or is he?)
After a food break back at the condo, we headed over by the Alyeska Ski Resort to do another hike on a hilly 5k Nordic Ski loop that is only open to skiers in the winter. We could not imagine skiing up some of those hills! We had an elevation gain of 700 feet.
They must get a lot of snow here! (Lynda likes this sign because it makes her look taller than she is.)
There were some patches of snow as seen behind us but the path was mostly dry.
Brit was flying out tonight so we headed into Anchorage to check out another brewery before her flight. We like to try new places for dinner but the only quick option was Wee B's which served chicken wings or Elk or Buffalo Burgers. We instead opted instead for Jersey Mike's and went to Magnetic North Brewing.
Not our finest picture but the only one at the brewery so it stays!
Among the 5 of us, we sampled the Brown Baggin' Brown Ale, the Arnold Palmer Lager, the Plumber Pilsner, the Sour Puss Raspberry, the Swirl and the 4 More Years sour. Carol got a pint of a new Extra Special Bitter beer that was being released tomorrow.
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