About the bear...and the disappearing fish

That 7 foot bear pictured in the first post...he/she (didn't examine too closely) was poised in the lobby of our hotel...Mom didn't see him until she saw the blog photo.

Today we took a tour of Anchorage and I'm showing you some of the photos I snapped on my phone (I forgot to put the memory chip in the d@#n camera!). We didn't see any moose, but there were Polar Bear Farts on the menu of the bar I took Mom to late this afternoon, so that HAS to count for something! One of the photos shows a float plane landing just over the right wing of a parked float plane...that was really cool. In my next life I'm going to be a licenced pilot, a Blimp pilot and a downhill ski racer. (Got too much left to do in this life to have time for all that.) Our tour wasn't "optimal"; there were lots of people from India, China and Thailand on the tour and they would not SHUT UP...made it hard to hear the extremely bad jokes and puns the tour guide had memorized. (Ladies, the male-female ratio in Alaska is about 3 to 1...the odds are good but the goods are odd...BA DUMP BUMP.)

When Ma was napping I went to the Ship Creek Bridge Espresso Bar and got a cappuccino to sit while I watched the many seemingly luckless fishermen casting their lures into the shallow but clear Ship Creek. I felt sorry for them until I realized that getting out of the house and away from whoever remains in the house is usually the point anyway....or so I thought. See the photo of the guy with the 31 pound King Salmon...he caught that sucker right where I was photographing and was very happy to have me take his photo (which I emailed to him).

The mural on the high school cleverly includes the year it was painted, which the Principal explicitly forbade the mural painters from including. No prize will go to those who find the year in the design...just some glory due the geek who takes the time to actually find it...should be fun for you Sudoku fans.

We walked all over the Saturday market (yes, open on Sunday too!). I sampled and liked Reindeer and Caribou sausage...twice! Tested out and bought some locally made Fudge...and then consumed it almost all by myself...yummo! A guy had a booth with the theme "Alaska kicks Texas' Ass...because when it became the 50th state in 1959, Alaska became the largest state...2.3X larger than Texas. Now we know what all those Texans with large vehicles are compensating for....The Visitor Center volunteers suggested to Mom that she'd like the free movies in the Federal building...so when her knees gave out and I went souvenir shopping (I bought a t-shirt that says "I can see Russia from my house!") she watched EcoPorn...I mean movies that show all of the pretty nature stuff in Alaska. Then I watched the movie about the 1964 9.2 earthquake that destroyed several Alaska towns and caused tsunamis (Mom likes to say Sutommies) in Crescent City Calfiornia and other far-away places.

After all of that sitting down watching movies, I dragged Ma to the top of the Hilton to see the 300 degree view...I tried to make Denali visible, but apparently a high school science teacher isn't intimidating enough...we couldn't see it. After that. Ma's knees were tired, so I took her to a bar for medication. I had Moose Drool and she declined to have a Polar Bear Fart...she stuck with a Margarita.

Did you know that they make many "wonderful" souvenirs out of preserved poop of the various species of Alaskan wildlife? Well they doo...and if you've been nice enough to my Mom or me perhaps you'll be receiving some as a gift!

Tomorrow we travel to Whittier and board the Island Princess for our cruise. They charge for internet access (and I'm "thrifty") so I don't know when next I'll blog...if there are lots of encouraging comments I'll blog soon...if not, well, I'll just be at the buffet or afternoon tea, or yoga, or on deck viewing the scenery...or hunting down some good chocolate.