Blogs from Anchorage, Alaska, United States, North America - page 15

As I mentioned yesterday, we went to the Alaska Aviation Museum. Jerry, one of our fellow travelers, is a retired pilot from Eastern Airlines. He was able to give us a lot of good information about the planes. We left the museum and went to Earthquake Park. There is a memorial there for all the losses to the big earthquake that hit Anchorage on Good Friday, March 27, 1964. Jim took a picture there in the park trying to show how much the ground had shifted. He says it was probably 15 or 20 feet. 4th Avenue, Anchorage's main, street dropped as much as 15 ft. The earthquake measured 9.2 on the Richter Scale. There were 55 strong aftershocks(some with 5.0 on the Richter Scale) that weekend. Nine people perished. At the airport, more damage was ... read more

First part of the day was simply getting the car ready for road travel and some other preparedness. At the moment, I could probably last a week or two if the car broke down in the wilderness given the snacks and water. And no, the snacks are not all chocolate - nuts, raisins, peanut butter, etc. The staples of road travel. On the way to Target, I saw a sign for a place offering helicopter instruction. Mmm, that could be really interesting. Unfortunately I doubt it could be done in one day and on second thought, me in charge of flying a helicopter is actually a pretty scary thought!! Guess that might be one experience I'll pass in consideration of the safety of others. I had a bit of time to spare this afternoon so I ... read more

Packing was a definite challenge - needed to consider having shorts to winter coat and everything in between. Stopping to do wash is only going to be every 10-14 days. The absolute best part was that when done, not one business suit included! That I could handle. Arrival at the Milwaukee airport was no different than any business travel day with the exception of having more luggage. It just wasn't real that a trip to Alaska, that dream trip you hope to make some day, had actually begun. Having exhausted myself in finishing work and trying to pack and get ready plus a myriad of other things, even the 5 1/2 hr flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage went fast since I slept most of the way. Then that announcement on the plane that our initial decent ... read more

The coastal trail is just a few yards away from downtown Anchorage, it covers 11 miles long along the Cook Inlet. You can walk along, bike it, or even cross country skiing in the winter time. We rented bikes from the downtown rental co, we did see some bald eagles while in the trail, we even saw a Lynx, we did not see any moose.... read more

I selected a nice spot along the river. It was quite a good spot and nobody seemed to be particularly interested in it. There were a lot of cars passing back and forth along the road in front of the spot I had chosen. It was secluded and close to the river. But the walk to the river dredged up a bunch of mosquitoes, so I only went once and I didn't end up staying that long as a result. But the spot was quite nice and I spent a very pleasant night. Because of the long nap in the evening, I ended up sleeping not very long at all. But the deceptiveness of night and day in the north left me thinking it must be quite late. It was quite light outside. But it turned ... read more