Alaska Adventure; Part Five

11 June 2013; Anchorage First Exploration --

Although Grumpy has been to Alaska three times previously; the first time just 10 months or so after the big Earthquake that did a great deal of damage to Anchorage (as well as some other coastal communities along the Gulf of Alaska), he had not done much exploration of Anchorage itself. So this was to be a first for the entire group of seven. As a "native guide", Grumpy would be totally worthless on this day.

We first took a "trolley" tour of Anchorage, during which we passed some sites that my sister and I both wanted to visit. We also were shown an area where a large suburb of homes had dropped by eleven feet as the ground on which these houses sat sunk with the shaking of the 'quake. No photo could do justice to the scar that is clear to the first-hand vision of the perceptive human eyes.

Walking around the downtown streets of Anchorage revealed the beauty that the citizens of this metropolis provide for themselves and their out-of-town visitors. These flowers were brilliant colors in the warm welcome of the Alaskan almost-Summer.

The trolley tour took us past an airstrip with an adjacent body of water where there were literally hundreds of small aircraft: Piper Cubs, Cessna's -- even a Mooney. Many of the fixed landing gear airplanes had  oversize "Tundra" tires in place of the usual small "doughnut" tires that are standard.  With these tires, they could land and take-off from river gravel bars or the rough tundra. Of course, these big, fat tires wouldn't fit inside the gear-retraction wells of the Mooney. But that didn't stop Grumpy from day-dreaming about, "... what if ..."!

After the trolley tour, we went to a Native Culture museum, where some Native young women showed and described the various types houses in which the different groups of people lived. They also described -- but did not show! -- the manner (clothing, or lack thereof) in which they lived while in some of these houses. Clans -- extended family -- would inhabit one fairly large, but open room in a single house. Their body heat being the only form of heating for the interior.

During this walk around to see the different housing, this "Quyaq" being paddled by a young Native woman, was spotted. Grumpy took more photos of this type of kayak, with its curious split prow, to discuss with those who might be interested in this design detail.


Finally, we stopped by the training area for an Iditarod sled-dog team. For some reason everyone wanted to see and/or hold these little Husky puppies. They didn't give Grumpy a chance!

The Iditarod is a race from Anchorage to Nome, reenacting the sled dog marathon performed by an heroic "musher" in the early 1900's to deliver some serum needed to combat an outbreak of some disease in Nome. It covers a distance of about 1,000 miles, across rough tundra, across frozen rivers and through spruce woods. Although the race officially starts in Anchorage [a "photo-op" start does occur in Anchorage], the actual starting point is Wasilla, which is located about 50 miles North of Anchorage.

Tomorrow, we board the train at 0945 to go to the small port town of Whittier for a boat tour to see glaciers and sea-life. Don't miss it!