Anchorage

Saturday, June 23

We bade farewell to Girdwood and Connie, our garrulous hostess at Glacierview B and B (and her fabulous breakfasts!) and headed north along the Turnagain Arm to Anchorage.  The day was warm (low 70's) and the thirty-mile trip passed quickly; Girdwood is considered an Anchorage exurb, and the funky folk in the skiing community seem to have a variety of feelings about being so close to “town.”

Jim and Donna decided to join the many hikers heading up Flattop Mountain to take in the 360-degree views of Anchorage and around.  Tom and Mel opted for a more urban experience and headed downtown.  We enjoyed the downtown street fair celebrating the Solstice and the large Saturday Market nearby, along with lots of others out to take advantage of the sun and temperatures in the mid-70’s; they seem to know that such conditions don’t last long here! We picked up the keys to our apartment and moved some of our gear in before returning to the trailhead to pick up the tired but happy hikers.  After a stop at Alaska’s largest liquor store (first things first!), we headed back to our digs for showers and some R and R.

Speaking of “Alaska’s largest”, there is a thriving industry producing t-shirts crowing about the comparative sizes of Alaska and Texas.  A sampling: “If we split Alaska in half, then Texas would be the third largest state”; “Alaska: Pissing off Texas since 1959” (1959 was the year of Alaska’s admission to the Union.); “Texas, isn’t it cute?” with a map of Texas superimposed on one of Alaska.  You get the idea…

After dinner chez nous, we drove around downtown hoping that the Solstice celebration was still open, but they seemed to have rolled up the sidewalks pretty early, especially considering the fact that it’s a Saturday, sun shining at 11 PM and solstice weekend.  We also tried to find access to the salmon fish ladder viewing platform, but to no avail.  By then, we were all too tired to walk much, so headed “home” and called it a day.