Anchorage - June 13-16

The first day we spent here was pretty much a chore day- laundry, showers, shopping and a haircut for me.  We went to downtown Anchorage and looked around a bit, and visited a weekend outdoor market.  Anchorage is not a terribly tall city.  There are a few high-rise buildings, but most of them are only a few stories tall.  I have not seen many huge McMansions, though there are some very lovely homes here.  Lots of bungalows, which makes a lot of sense, given the heating situation in winter.

Early on Monday all 5 of us climbed into Don's Durango, along with his dog, Parker, and headed for Hope.

The road goes along Turnagain Arm, a beautiful stretch of water named by Captain Cook, for exactly the reason you might infer.  We stopped for huge, warm cinnamon buns at a bakery in Girdwood,

then continued on to the C'oeur d'Alene campground.  This was fairly remote, many miles up a single lane dirt road, climbing high above the valley floor. We tried to go all the way to the end of the high valley, to check out a old mine,

but there was still snow blocking the road so we retreated to the picnic area and ate lunch, all the while scanning the hillsides with binoculars looking for Dall sheep or mountain goats, bear, moose or caribou.  Of course, we didn't see a single one.

We then proceeded down the mountain past the Alyeska Ski Area and Resort to Hope.  Hope is a tiny village with many historical buildings and a great cafe.

We looked around for a while, then repaired to the cafe for pie and coffee before starting the ride back to Anchorage.  While in the library in Hope we asked about bears around town.  The young librarian said that a couple of days ago a brown bear had trapped or attacked a woman out at a place called Gold Rock, and the ambulance had come screaming through town.  No-body had heard how things turned out but they sure hoped everything was OK.  My thought was that screaming ambulances do not usually mean that "everything is OK" for the victim, but I decided not to voice that point of view.  On the way back we paid a visit to the Portage Glacier.

The day had started sunny but by the time we got back to Dons the clouds had moved in.

On Tues. we went to Seward.  It was raining and chilly, but we decided it was "Alaska weather" and must be braved.  The ride down Turnagain Arm was very different, with fog hanging on the peaks.  We stopped to take a photo of the Turnagain Arm Pit, a BBQ place.

  Someone has a great sense of humor!  We arrived at 1pm, just as Bette and Tom also arrived.

We all went for lunch, and had fish and chips.  It was the first time I'd had it with the fish being fried salmon - delicious!  We then went out to Millers Landing, via a slippery, single lane mud road which is the very end of the land in Seward, stretching out into Resurrection Bay.  After Bette did some hard shopping for a warm hat and mittens

we left for town and the Sea Life Center.  When we found that the aquarium would cost $40.00, (yes, everything is expensive in AK) we all decided that it wasn't different enough to warrant a visit, so we said good-bye to Bette and Tom, who are staying in Seward for a couple of days.  We probably will not see them again on this trip, as we will have headed north before they return to Dons'.  On the way back I spotted a moose high on the mountainside, wandering across a snowfield.  We arrived back at Anchorage and had a hot soup and sandwich supper, then early bed.  Bill has come down with my head cold, so he is feeling lousy now.  Hopefully it will only be awful for a couple of days, as mine was.

On Wed. the rain was only coming in occasional showers, but Bill still felt lousy so he decided to have an easy day and stay home.  Don and I went out to an area north of the city where there are huge meadows of wild iris in bloom.

It was lovely, but the light was dull so it didn't have the glorious color it would have had with sun.  There were wild roses, irises, dandelions, chocolate lilies,

columbine, shrubs with silver leaves, forget-me-nots and a bush with yellow blossoms.  On the way back we stopped at Eklutna to see an old Russian Orthodox church and graveyard.  There was a priest there who gave us a little tour and explained some of the customs.  The cemetery is a mixture of Russian Orthodox and native Athabascan traditions.

The Athabascans believe that when a person dies the soul stays over the grave for a year, so to make it comfortable and protect it they build little houses over the graves.  The houses are very decorative and the main color of the house indicates which family it belongs to.  The graves also have a blanket or quilt over them, under the little house, held down by a pair of logs on each side, making them look like little beds.  These would be a personal item of either the deceased or the family.  The cemetery is still in use, with both very old and very new graves.  Most of the graves are highly decorated with flowers and often with the tools of a persons trade.  There are two churches, an old one and a new one.

The old one was built in the 1800's and is made of logs.  The new one is a bit bigger, but still tiny, with no seats.  The priest said that they have about 60 parishioners.  I hope they don't all come at the same time! The church has two small onion domes and many icons.  Home to find Bill napping, so I spent the rest of the day catching up on this blog  We are heading north from here, so internet access will be even spottier, but we will do the best we can to publish.  I also want to point out that placement of the pictures in the blog is difficult, and though they are in the proper place in the composition section, when published they are not always where we'd like them to be.

It is now Thursday, June 17.  Finally a few breaks in the clouds and small patches of blue sky.  And yes, I think that strange goldish gleam just might be weak sunshine.  Bill is feeling better, but still not 100%, so we are staying another day.  Lucky Don! (??)  I photographed Dons house and organized things in the van. 

More laundry and showers, cleaning and bed change.  All those chores you can't avoid, even this far from home, unless you're on a luxury cruise. Luxury cruise this isn't, but I wouldn't trade this experience!  Tonight we are going out to eat the best fried chicken in Anchorage.