I arrived back in Anchorage to drizzle rain and darkness. Contrary to popular believe it does get for a little while at night. My flight arrived around 12:30 A.M. and after to wandering around for about 45 minutes trying to locate the parking lot where my car was located, it was actually dark outside. By the time I returned to my RV it was respectably dark.
The next morning I retrieved Sadie from the doggie hotel (she did fine) and returned to find the rest of the group had arrived at the Moose Lodge. After everyone got settled in we headed for downtown and the visitor center to get "oriented". Anchorage is the jump off point for so many destinations...Denali, Fairbanks,Seward, Homer, Palmer and the Kenai Peninsula, to name a few. Since we had already been to Denali and Fairbanks we were able to concentrate on information pertaining to some of the other areas. Were to start? Liz exclaimed she could stay here for at least a week!
Tuesday, we had planned to hit the Tony Knowles Coastal Bicycle Trail, but it was cloudy and foggy. We checked the weather and it looked like the next day would be better for a ride so we decided to go check out the trail to Flat Top Mountain. Several guide books and the folks at the visitor center said the Flat Tom Mountain trail was suppose to be one of the top rated hikes in the Anchorage area. The weather did not cooperate and by the time we got out of the car it had started raining so we just walked up to the lookout point and will try and hike the trail another day.
Views from the overlook
The Seward Highway is a Scenic Byway that leads south from Anchorage. We decided to drive south aways and stop at Potter Mash, where there is a long boardwalk over the marsh. The marsh was formed as a result of the building of the Alaskan Railroad and Liz was hoping to see an abundance of birds and other wildlife.
We continued on down the coast stopping at various pullouts enjoying the vistas of the Turnagain Arm. We ended up in Girdwood for late afternoon snacks at the Bake Shop where Bill and Nancy tested more cinnamon buns and then the Ice Cream Shop where Liz and I sampled home made ginger ice cream. It was really good. Girdwood is the home of the Alyeskan Resort, which is a cute little ski resort and is active with summer residents.
Mud flats near Windy Point on the Seward Highway
Just one of the scene driving down the Seward Highway
We plan to travel the Seward Highway down to Seward and eventually work our way to Homer after we leave Anchorage which won't be until after the weekend.
We took a 4 hour wildlife scenic boat trip with Major Cruise Line out of Seward and saw many kinds of birds and wildlife, in Resurrection Bay..they had a buffet onboard too..., but it did rain that day and we saw no whales-so that was a bummer! But the stuff we did see was awesome!! Your photos are great--hope you get good weather.
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