RV ALASKA - "The City of Lights and Flowers"

The next time I tell you that I’m going to try to catch up on blog posts, just ignore my ramblings.  When I initially made the switch to posting from the road in relatively real time, I figured I’d publish shorter posts, but more frequently.  That’s not working out as well as I had hoped.  It’s my own fault.  There are so many facets to this trip that I want to share, it’s nearly impossible for me to draft a short post.  And longer posts simply take more time to put together.  Still, I’d rather be playing catch up than short you on the details because this really is an amazing adventure.  So, please bear with the delay; I’ll catch up – eventually.  That being said, I do have a confession to make.

When we arrived in Seward and had nine full days stretching out in front of us, I thought for sure I’d catch up.  Truth be told, we spent most of the week either out on our bikes or sitting outdoors (inside on the miserable weather days) watching all the action in Resurrection Bay.  There was a lot watch.  Details will follow when I get to my Seward post; for now, I’ll admit that those nine days were pretty much no work, all play.  Mea culpa.   Now, let’s talk about Anchorage.

Anchorage is nicknamed “The City of Lights and Flowers” for the beautiful baskets of flowers that decorate the city in the summer and the countless sparkling lights that brighten the dark nights of winter.  It’s Alaska’s largest city (population: 287,145), but it doesn’t feel like it.  Although downtown can get a bit crowded, unless you get caught in commuter traffic it’s pretty easy to get around.  Our family had been to Anchorage twice before on Alaska vacations, and I had been up there for a conference some years ago, so the city wasn’t completely unfamiliar to us.  On our way through to Palmer, we stopped to have lunch and pick up a prescription.  The following day, we drove back into Anchorage to visit the attractions on our list.  We liked the campground options in the Palmer-Wasilla area much better than those in Anchorage, and the 45 minute run down and back was an easy drive and easy on the eyes.

Date(s) – July 22nd - July 23^rd   

Total Miles Traveled to Date – 11,426

Wildlife Sightings to Date – We saw absolutely no wildlife on either day, so our wildlife count remains at: 62 eagles (including 2 fledglings); 4 seagull chicks; 8 swans (including 2 fuzzy cygnets); 3 Steller sea lions; 13 harbor seals; 2 sea otters; 3 cow moose; 1 bull moose; 1 grizzly sow with 2 cubs; 1 back end of a grizzly bear; 6 black bears; 1 coyote; 1 snowshoe hare; 3 rabbits (including one very fast bunny that just managed to cross the road safely); several small herds of bison with at least 2 dozen young calves; 9 deer (2 of them bucks with their racks covered in velvet); 9 mountain goats (including 3 tiny and adorable kids); 23 bighorn sheep; 62 elk (including 7 calves that hadn’t yet lost their spots and a number of bull elk with full racks covered in velvet); several small herds of pronghorn antelope (including 2 mamas with 3 newborn fawns between them); 3 great blue herons; dozens of American white pelicans; at least a half dozen families of adult geese with goslings; and several dozen ducks (with lots of little ducklings).

Highlights – I love float planes!  Sadly, I don’t get to see them very often.  Once in a while, one will turn up on the river where we boat.  And there’s a float plane up at our favorite lake that we see when we’re camping every summer.  Other than that, there aren’t many places to set a float plane down in our neck of the woods.  Up here, they call them seaplanes.  The Lake Hood Seaplane Base had been on my bucket list for years - I was really excited to have the chance to hang out and watch the planes.  Don’t think Alan was just along for the ride.  He had been looking forward to this stop, as well, and we were like kids watching a parade.  Well, I was, anyway.  Alan has much more self-control.  This seaplane base started out as two separate lakes – Lake Hood and Lake Spenard.  In the 1970’s, the state dredged out takeoff and taxi lanes between the two lakes, so now it’s simply known as Lake Hood.  Gotta tell you, we didn’t have to wait long to see some action.  This seaplane base is the largest and busiest in the world.  I didn’t count the number of float plane photos I took that day, but I exerted an enormous amount of self-control (just to prove I could) and posted only a handful.

Following our stop at Lake Hood, we visited the Alaska Aviation Museum.  The museum had plenty of planes to see and some excellent exhibits on aviation history in Alaska.  I was particularly impressed by the recognition given to hard-working and dedicated female aviators.  Apparently, in Alaska, it’s not about gender and all about getting the job done.  The only slightly disconcerting point I’d like to make about the Aviation Museum is that you do need to cross a taxiway to get from the parking lot to the building.  Keep your eyes open and step lively!

If you’re ever in Anchorage and looking for a good used book store, I can heartily recommend Title Wave Books.  The place is huge, brightly lit, and cheerfully decorated.  It actually looks like a small Barnes & Noble, but the books are used.  And it appeared they had some type of system to trade in books for credit.  I was looking for a few specific titles and they weren’t in stock, so I left empty-handed.  If Alan hadn’t been waiting in the truck, more browsing would have ensued and that wouldn’t have been the case.

On one of our previous trips to Alaska, we overnighted at the Hotel Captain Cook.  I don’t think it would be a highlight for any of you, but we got a kick out of seeing the hotel again.  Some stops on this this Alaska adventure have been a trip down memory lane for us, and we’ve enjoyed that aspect of the journey immensely.

Lowlight(s) – Let’s talk about zoos.  While we were in Anchorage, we visited the Alaska Zoo.  I have mixed feelings about zoos.  I love the natural world and appreciate the opportunity to see so many of God’s critters that I never would under ordinary circumstances.   I applaud the zoos who spend time, effort and financial resources to recreate comfortable and natural habitats for their residents.  Kudos, too, to the facilities that take on critters that would otherwise not survive in the wild.  Plus, there’s the educational angle - zoos are in a unique position to educate (kids, especially) and encourage kind treatment of animals and good stewardship.  And then there’s the dark side.  Small enclosures.  Dirty cages.  Lethargic animals.  It breaks my heart to see animals that are unable to live out their lives as nature intended.  If they’re well cared for and content, that’s one thing.  When they simply pace enclosures exhibiting behaviors that aren’t natural, that’s painful to see.  We generally avoid zoos, and I don’t think we’ve been to one since our kids were, well, kids.  Here in Alaska, we visited this particular zoo mainly for the opportunity to see a grizzly bear and moose up close – and safely.  I must admit that we enjoyed the river otters immensely – their “joie de vie” is incomparable.   I also had an opportunity to watch a staff member feed a mink tiny bits of meat with long-handled tweezers which, honestly, was fascinating to me.  We got to see about a half dozen orphaned moose calves, and I’m still trying to figure out how something so gangly can be so adorable.  But a number of the animals looked lethargic and some of the habitats appeared unkempt (not just natural).  Admittedly, I viewed our visit through an untrained eye, and all might actually be well in Zooville.  This could simply be my ambivalence regarding zoos rearing its head.  In any case, if we visit Anchorage again in the future, I wouldn’t go back to the zoo.  For the record, just as we were approaching the moose enclosure, the single moose we saw from a distance walked around behind his or her shed and promptly settled in for a rest.  The only part of him/her that showed was its nose, but I took a photo of it anyway.  No, I’m not sharing that one.  It was for my satisfaction, only.  Alan, by the way, thought this was absolutely hysterical, and now believes that I have some type of innate moose repellent in my system.

They say you can’t go home again.  I don’t necessarily believe that to be true, but I do know that you can’t go to The Muffin Man again.  Back when we were in Anchorage years ago, and the kids were five and ten years old, we walked from the Hotel Captain Cook to The Muffin Man for breakfast one morning.  It was a little hole-in-the-wall place, but the muffins were good and I can credit the tiny restaurant with getting me on an oatmeal kick that’s still going strong.  Alan and I drove by The Muffin Man while we were in Anchorage and, in this case, you really can’t go home again.  The Muffin Man is now Café 817, and the tiny restaurant we loved 20 years ago is long gone.  We knew the chance was small that it would still be there, but our fingers were crossed.  I guess our memories will have to suffice.

Campground(s) – After our last experience at the cute, little Matanuska River Park in Palmer (where we had to be careful exiting our trailer so that we didn’t crash into our neighbor’s slide), Alan and I made a decision.  If we couldn’t ‘get site #1 or site #26, we weren’t going to stay there.  Both of those sites are at the end of a row, and they’re a bit wider than the other sites in the campground, ensuring a more pleasant stay.  For this visit, we did snag site #26, but it was only available for two nights, so a change in venue interrupted our stay in Palmer and transition time needed to be shoehorned into the schedule.  But, for our first two nights, Alan and I enjoyed our shaded, corner site – and the extra breathing room it allowed.

Tip(s) – If you plan to be on the road for an extended period of time and will need to refill a prescription at a pharmacy, it’s extremely easy to access your refills at a CVS pharmacy if you’re already a customer in their system.  This is the first time I’ve had to do this, and the pharmacy staff at the CVS on North Muldoon Road in Anchorage was wonderful to work with, even going so far as to call to let me know that they were able to access my prescription, had it ready for me to pick up and I would just need to alert my local CVS to “pull back” the Rx from Anchorage when I was ready to refill it again.  My understanding through the iRV2 Forum is that this is possible, also, with Walmart if you’re one of their customers with a prescription on file.  However, it’s also my understanding that this system doesn’t work if your prescription is for a controlled substance, so do be sure to check with your doctor, in any event, well before your trip begins.

Since I know y’all just put Lake Hood Seaplane Base on your bucket list, you should know that the best place to view the takeoffs and landings (in my humble opinion) is from the parking lot at the Department of Transportation.  There is public parking available at the back of the DOT lot, and there was even a picnic table there when we visited.  The fence at the edge of DOT’s lawn is only about 30’ from the taxiway/landing strip, so much of the action takes place right in front of you.  If you want to watch the float planes, but you really need to have some lunch, the patio at The Fancy Moose Lounge at The Lakefront Hotel provides a lovely view of the area where the planes turn for takeoff.  (Yes, yes we did go back to Lake Hood a couple of days later.  Are you surprised?)  Although I liked getting another view from a different perspective, we weren’t particularly impressed with the restaurant’s service.  Next time, it will be a picnic lunch at the Department of Transportation for us.

Observation(s) – Despite the size of the state, we’re finding that it’s not unusual to run into some of our fellow travelers at more than one place.  After all, there are just so many roads you can take and towns and cities you can visit here, many of them being top destinations for tourists.  Do you remember the Two Tired Teachers?  While we were in Alberta, Canada, we had first seen them at Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park, and we had spoken to one of them at Walmart in Grand Prairie.  The last time we saw them was at Dawson Creek (the official start of the Alaska Highway) when we spotted their rig at a Holiday Inn.  We never saw them again – until recently.  Within the past week or so, we’ve seen their (very conspicuous) travel trailer on the road to Exit Glacier (outside of Seward) and on Portage Glacier Road (in Girdwood, outside of Anchorage).  Meanwhile, we spotted “Red,” also when we were in Seward.  “Red,” as we’ve dubbed him, owns a big, flashy Class A motorhome that’s predominantly (you guessed it!) red, and he tows a red Jeep along with it.  It’s a combination you just can’t miss.  Red was camped a couple of sites down from us in Tok, just after we arrived in Alaska.  He was easy to spot again in Seward because, well, he’s really red.  What brought this to mind was our conversation with our neighbors in a Class B across the road from our campsite at Matanuska River Park.  They mentioned that they had seen our license plate before; together, we figured out that we were all in Valdez at the same time.  Small world, indeed – even in Alaska, apparently.

Laugh(s) of the Day

While we were at the zoo, we stopped to visit the two resident coyotes, Levi and Hans.  I’m not sure where Levi was when we first stepped up to their enclosure, but Hans was comfortably sleeping in his “doghouse.”  As we watched, Hans stretched, and then exited his doghouse to explore the area to the right of it.  Enter Levi, stage left.  Levi ambled over to Hans’s home, climbed inside, and promptly peed on the wall.  Then he very casually stepped out and went over to say hi to Hans and tell him what he did.  Or, maybe, he just said, “So, HA!”  Wonder what’s going on in that relationship!

Bus Update! – I have no idea why I find the idea of buses with names to be so fascinating, but there you have it.  We’ve “met” quite a few additional buses since I first commented on them, and, for whatever reason, I’ve been compelled to keep a list.  In addition to the first 20 you met in a previous post, we now have: Foraker, Attu, Churchill, Iliamna (one of the volcanos we could see from our campsite at Deep Creek), Kluane, Ogilvie, Russell, Alyeska, Eagle, Healy, Karsten, Boreal, Polychrome, Willow, Steller, Drum, Elias, Pioneer, Hugo, Sanford, Sable, Ptarmigan, Sugarloaf, Hesperus, Torbert, Cook, Copper, Elusive, Blackburn and Deception.  In case you’re not keeping track, we’re up to 50.  Considering how many mountains exist after which a bus can be named, it wouldn’t surprise me if we meet a few more along the way.  And, yes, we did see our friend Huntington just two days ago.  And, yes, I did wave.

Omigosh!  I gotta go.  This post is already so long half of you probably fell asleep already!  We’re dry camping and I’m running low on laptop battery, so I’m only going to proofread this once.  If you find any errors, please let me know and I’ll correct them!

Pic(s) of the Day

That's us in site #26 at the far end of the row on the left.

In order to get there . . .

. . . you have to carefully cross here.

I must admit, I had never been in an airplane hangar before.

This photo was taken from the old air traffic control tower at the Aviation Museum.

Is it just me, or does this grizzly bear look awfully sad?

These river otters were such a treat to watch!

Levi (the culprit)

Hans (the victim)

Up Next – Working through our list of attractions and activities in the Palmer-Wasilla area, including one stop that’s particularly close to my heart.