Arrival in Anchorage

Everything went as planned on our Burbank - Seattle - Anchorage day. It was sunny, and warm on our arrival. One of my favorite parts of riding from the airport to downtown Anchorage is going by the floatplane lake; we got to go by twice because the van driver went back to pick up some more people. Good thing too, because the second time we were stopped by "train coming" lights and a downdropping barrier...only this time we had to yield to a tiny airplane on a runway crossing the road...my car is bigger than was this plane. But you gotta love a town that stops for mechanical mosquitos!

After we checked into to our hotel, the Comfort Inn on Ship Creek, we hopped (in Mom's case climbed) onto the free shuttle offered by the Ulu Museum. (Ulu's are a variety of knives handmade by natives to this part of the world.) Then we immediately went looking for a restaurant to get an inexpensive salmon dinner. On the way, we passed by the quaint grass-roofed Visitors Center and got to stroll in the streets which were closed for the inaugural "Hero Games"...there were all kinds of rescue service personnel participating in various events. We happened by just as the Bucket Brigade Squad Car Push event was beginning. I just held out my camera in the general direction of the action and captured a few good men and women.

We stopped at Alaska Salmon Chowder House for dinner...very elegant with plastic outdoor chairs...but for Anchorage, reasonably priced. Mom opted for Clam Chowder and I snapped this photo of her calling Julie to brag about it. Our salmon filets were larger than the palms of our hands and good...but not amazing. We're not upset that we must continue the search for "most delicious salmon in Alaska". Then we walked back down the hill to our room and...were exhausted! Even though the sun never set, and sunny blue skies were in evidence on the other side of our blackout curtains....we nodded off in the early double digits and slept well until the sun, well, it didn't come up because it never went down...anyway we got up early.

I bet you can't guess what we're going to do today!