They've been predicting rain for the past two days, but it still hasn't arrived (yea!!). At 16 days into my trip, I've only had rain for two of those days and both of those were traveling days when I had no plans to hike or do anything outdoors. Pretty amazing! I went to Anchorage today, a city that some folks avoid and speak disparagingly of. Anchorage is to Alaska as Honolulu is to Hawaii; a typical, large, American city that seems out of place in a state that is otherwise so beautiful and enticing. Some Alaskans like to say that the [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we spent a full day in Anchorage. We ate breakfast at a great little place called The Snow City Cafe. What amazing food! After breakfast, Kay & I were off to the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum and the guys made plans for an extended bike ride. I really enjoyed the aviation museum & Kay was a good sport & didn't complain. They had a nice collection of planes & some helicopters that were part of Alaska's heritage. Lake Hood, in Anchorage, is the largest float plane base in the world. Although we took a cab to get there, we decided [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we spent our first day back on dry land. Kay said she felt wobbly like we were still in rough water! The shipped docked at Whittier early in the morning. We then disembarked around 8:00 a.m. after a light breakfast boarded a bus for Anchorage. We passed through the longest tunnel in North America (2 1/2 miles long) on our way. The driver stopped at a little park so that we could look at some salmon & the views. When we arrived in Anchorage, it was too early to check into our rooms so we took a walk. We ate [View Full Entry]

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We went to zoo here. It was pretty cool. Not as good as St. louis though. Pics are up. Enjoy. Videos will be posted to our youtube account. [View Full Entry]

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I’m not sure whether it was because I lived 3 years in Alaska from 1951-1954 or because my sister was born there at Elmendorf Air Force Base in 1953 or that it was one of my Dad’s favorite places; but we felt a calling to visit this wilderness area on its 50th anniversary of becoming a state. So the 4 of us; Chuck and I and my sister Patti and my brother in law Butch, all came to Alaska for 2 weeks at the end of August 2009. This was really a dream come true for all of us, and although [View Full Entry]

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You Wailer's out there will recognize Noel and Sue, they haven't changed much. We headed back to Anchorage, one last time. We regrouped and reorganized, shopped and cleaned. But mostly we squeezed every last moment we could with Noel and Sue ( and Mitch too). It was so great for Ed to spend time with old friends, and I really enjoyed making new friends. The Janda's have a beautiful home and we are so grateful for their hospitality. We even got to meet thier daughter Lindsey, what a beautiful young girl. She was home for a few days, visiting from college. [View Full Entry]

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Today we decided it was about time we actually did some Alaska stuff. So, we decided to hike a trail called Flattop Mountain. I (Anna) am ridiculously out of shape. I seriously thought I was gonna die. It was so hard, but David pushed me the whole way. He and Griffin were running up the thing like it was nothing. Up near the top, we actually had to rock climb, hand over foot. It was hard, but it was actually a lot of fun. It was also a breathtaking view. We took as many pictures as we could, but they definitely [View Full Entry]

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Having arrived safely in Anchorage at 11pm on 22nd July and greeted the bike who was waiting for us in the hotel car park (with a new battery as she had refused to start when un-crated at the airport) we immediately went off to sample the wares of the local micro-brewery with a couple of other midnight arrivals. Next day we went off for a pootle around to get used to being back on the bike and driving on the 'wrong-side' of the road. Pointed the bike out of town and turned on the GPS, it said 'next left turn in [View Full Entry]

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We are on the last of four days getting set in Anchorage, Alaska, before setting off on the journey. Three things stand out: 1. Unexpectedly superb food and microbrewery beer in the downtown bars and restaurants. 2. Fantastic hospitality from our hosts, Larry and Allan, at the Wildflower Inn B&B. 3. Spending an afternoon in the company of the fine gentlemen of the Alaskan Machine Gun Association (AMA). Do I have your attention now? Kevin, our tour leader, knows these guys through the BMW Riders Club in Alaska, so they invited us around to fire off a few thousand rounds at [View Full Entry]

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Glenn Highway was bumpier than we would have liked. Frost heaves caused “roller coaster” conditions in some areas and had to be taken slowly to avoid damage to the bus as well as damage to our stomachs. The sky was quite hazy due to a couple of wildfires, so we missed some great views along the way. Hopefully, we'll make up for it later on. Almost half the state’s population lives in Anchorage, and its municipal boundary is nearly the size of Delaware. Anchorage is as far north as Helsinki, Finland and as far west as Honolulu, Hawaii. Six mountain ranges [View Full Entry]

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