Three Days in Anchorage
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We left the Musk Ox Farm and headed for Alaska’s ‘big smoke’… Anchorage. We could tell we were getting close when we spotted a familiar Walmart sign. We hadn’t seen a Walmart since Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. As usual, we had made no reservations, and it was late afternoon when we found a site at Golden Nugget RV Park. All manner and conditions of RVs and campers were crammed in cheek by jowl for $53+/night.
The park was, however, a convenient, in-town location and ticked off all the boxes for required amenities… electric, water, free hot showers, laundry and free Wi-Fi. Hotels, by the way, are going for $300+/night here, so $53 didn’t sound all that bad comparatively speaking. Our only big complaint beyond being cramped? It was hard to cook here since there was no place to clean up afterwards. We had to haul the dirty dishes and the gray water to the bathroom. Like many RV parks, this place caters primarily to self-contained big rigs, not little campers like Blanche.
A warm, sunny, gorgeous day greeted us. After enjoying a lazy morning reading the Times and doing a few chores, we were off to explore Anchorage. It’s hard to fathom exactly where Anchorage is, even with a map, so to give you a little perspective it’s as far west as Honolulu and at 61° north, it’s a bit further north than Stockholm, Sweden or St. Petersburg, Russia. It’s a long way from home.
We’ve been to Anchorage before… several times in fact, mostly for work and most recently ~30 years ago and, as you’d imagine, quite a bit has changed. Like other cities, it has grown and sprawled and downtown Anchorage is pretty much like most cities. It has its share of chain hotels and high rises, big, modern supermarkets, banks and all manner of stores, restaurants, services and neighborhoods hidden in plain sight. It also has some unique aspects that we were hoping to explore. With a backdrop of the Chugach Mountains, the waters of the Cook Inlet at its doorstep and 21.5 hours of daylight, we were looking forward to our time here.
We headed first to the Log Cabin Visitor’s Center in downtown Anchorage. With its sod roof and rustic structure in the middle of downtown Anchorage, we wondered why a log cabin? Because it’s symbolic of the frontier and one of Alaska’s monikers is ‘the Last Frontier’. The state is huge and there are still vast areas of land so remote that they have yet to be explored. It definitely qualifies as America’s ‘last frontier’.
We roamed the downtown streets poking around in souvenir shops, checking out some of the finer art in the many galleries and getting a feel for the city. There are statues and murals and parks galore. It’s a pretty downtown. Take a look…
The Ship Creek Overlook, a busy urban fishing spot, offers spectators a look at the salmon running upstream and the fishermen trying to catch them. I’d read that the best viewing time was an hour or two before and after high tide. We watched the eager fishermen wading into swift running waters or casting lines from shore.
We watched while the fishermen fished.
We met Joseph who had filled his cooler with ‘reds’.(sockeyes) and was cleaning and filleting them nearby. He planned to smoke them and boasted the best smoked salmon in all of Alaska.
Close by was the Ulu Factory and we peeked in for a look at Alaska’s iconic knife. Ulu is the short form of uuluuraq, an Inuit word for ‘woman’s knife’ traditionally used by Inuit women to cut meat or separate skins for clothing and now primarily used as a kitchen cutting tool. We saw hundreds of these at the souvenir shops downtown as we wandered, but these were as close to the real thing as we could get and are actually designed and made in Alaska. Tap on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.
Captain James Cook visited Southcentral Alaska in 1778 looking for the Northwest Passage. He traveled up to what is now known as Cook Inlet on his final voyage and is credited for being the first to map Alaska’s coastline. We stopped to pay homage to him at Resolution Park, named after his ship.
It seemed only fitting to stop at 49th State Brewing to celebrate our arrival in the city. Their renowned seafood chowder with a mini loaf of beer bread washed down with a draft ale was a great wrap-up to a lovely day.
Anchorage boasts 223 public parks and 100+ multi-use trails and one morning we figured we’d make use of some of them. We hadn’t ridden our bikes in a long while and another fine day offered us the opportunity to explore and ride. With an extensive network of paved trails, we had lots to choose from, but one loop in particular stood out… the Moose Loop.
Our 16-mile loop in the shape of a moose’s head took us through several parks, along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, through coastal woodlands, along the mudflats of the Knik Arm and had us delightfully delayed for 10-15 minutes as we waited for a moose to let us pass. Awesome!
Our last day in the city was rainy and blustery, the perfect opportunity to visit Alaska’s largest museum, the Anchorage Museum. It’s a fine blend of natural history, modern history and science, native cultural history along with 20th century and contemporary art. A great way to spend a rainy afternoon in Anchorage. Take a look…
We were especially impressed with the Arctic Studies Center, a shared presentation with the Smithsonian collections, which highlighted the diversity of the indigenous Alaskan people. It was both a fascinating and an eye-opening learning experience. Alaska's indigenous people… Aleuts, Inupiat, Yuit, Yup’ik, Athabascans, Tlingit, Haida and more are represented by their art, tools, jewelry, hunting weapons and clothing.. Each group seemed to share some characteristics, but all were unique and distinct in their own way. The goal is to protect, preserve and celebrate these cultures.
In all our travels, we almost forgot to visit Anchorage’s most famous resident and mascot, Star the reindeer. He’s housed in a most unlikely place… a metal/glass enclosure in the side yard of a house at 840 W 10th Avenue. He’s quite social and came up to us as we approached. We felt badly for him being incarcerated the way he was, but learned that the enclosure was installed for his protection from folks who have tried to kidnap him in the past. In actuality, he’s a pet and his owner takes him for walks regularly. Check out this YouTube to learn more.
There was more to see and we could have lingered longer in the city, but the rest of Alaska was calling. Next time we’ll head south to the Kenai Peninsula… and all I can say is WOW!