VALDEZ TO ANCHORAGE

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July 21 -22, 2011 VALDEZ TO ANCHORAGE
Once again we were most fortunate to get a clear, sunny day for our trip to Anchorage, stopping for one night at Mendeltna Lodge, along the Glenn Highway. The main lodge was a very interesting log building with a rustic interior. We were treated to a Pizza dinner that night by our hostess. There were many stops along the way either to snap pictures of the beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes and glaciers, or to wait for road construction!! One of our interesting stops was at a little “hole in the wall” place called Brown Bear Rhodehouse. Here we met the owner, cook, hostess and waitress who is also known as “The Hunter”. Cindy Rhodes, 4ft. 11inches weighing 91lbs. shot a Kodiak Brown Bear that was 10ft. 6inches tall and weighed in at 1,200lbs. back on April 23, 1997. We were able to get a picture of Cindy standing by pictures of her kill. She also gave us a photo of her with the bear which is now stuffed and displayed in the town museum. What an interesting person she was.
Right now we are in Anchorage. It is a big, bustling modern city with four lane highways, traffic lights, rush hour traffic etc. Not only is it a major port city but they have the University of Alaska, a big Army base and an Air Force base. Our RV Park is quite close to the Air Force base so we see huge C-17's flying in to land right over our heads!!
Our two day trip from Valdez to Anchorage was quite spectacular (again). When we were downloading our pictures we could not believe we actually took some of these pictures with our own little camera. Once again it is impossible to capture the vast vistas on camera - you have to be here to experience the size of this country. There are so many outdoor activities to keep you busy Dwain was wondering how they ever get any work done in this state!! We passed a small elementary school up on the mountains called "Glacier View Elementary". One of our traveling friends said the teacher must be saying, "Johnny, are you staring out the window at the view again"!!

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