On Wednesday morning we left for Anchorage. It was a glorious day! Blue skies with just a few puffy skies and decent temperatures (35-60). As made our way south, the road improved and the traffic increased. There were numerous pullouts that we took advantage of to do some sightseeing. The mountains still had their beautiful new coats of snow that glowed.
And of course the big lady herself was in good form.
We got settled into the Golden Nugget RV Park a bit east of downtown in a very populated part of the city. As with most urban RV parks, it was crowded and tight. Space costs money! It was a challenge to get the big fifth wheel rigs in. One guy just refused to turn his rig tight enough, and it took the wagon master to convince him it would take a near jack knife turn to get into his site. Our motorhome is longer than the fifth wheel trailers, but they have to add the length of the pickup in front of the hitch which complicates things. Even we took three wiggles to get into the site. We did all kinds of fascinating house stuff like laundry!
After supper we decided to take advantage of the long day to do some sightseeing. We wandered near the water looking at some of the fancy homes and lovely parks. We then decided to take a short trip along the Turnagain Arm. The tide was out, just turning, and the waves on the mud flaps were fascinating. The water was barely over the mud flats, and the waves were actually more mud than water! I tried to get a picture, but I wasn’t very successful. The haze was coming in, but at least you can see the mountains.
Today (Thursday) we had a bus tour of Anchorage. We got to see a bunch of sights. The seaplane base is the largest in the world! We saw hundreds of planes scattered in the area with one taking off or landing every few minutes. The driver also took us by both small plane fields, and there were even more hundreds of planes. It is definitely true that the bush plane is the basic transportation in Alaska! However the most interesting site was Earthquake Park. It is a spot on the edge of the Turnagain Arm that basically fell into the water during the 1960s earthquake. The city made it into a park with great walking trails. Nice vegetation too!
We also spent some time in downtown Anchorage. One of the nicknames is “City of Flowers”, and it is well-deserved. There were flowers everywhere. Man businesses had flower boxes or hanging plants. These photos were taken in a downtown park.
There we’re lots of murals, but I only took this picture. Why do I forget to take more?
Tomorrow is our last day in Anchorage, and we have only lunch and a travel briefing to attend. We are still looking for a few presents, so we are looking at some native gift stores. And of course there is a highly recommended quilt shop to visit for some Alaska fabrics. Later in the afternoon we will go to the Turnagain Arm to hopefully see a tidal bore. Maybe I will get a good video!