Sunday was an opportunity to explore the city of Anchorage while Reverend Gracie was at church. Gracie’s home in Eagle River, our homebase, is 15.5 miles (23 minutes) from Anchorage. Eagle River is a community within the Municipality of Anchorage situated on the Eagle River between Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Base and the Chugach Mountains. The drive to/from Anchorage is simply spectacular and none of our pictures can capture the grandeur of the mountain.
Alaska trappers and furriers are the stuff of legend and no stop in Anchorage is complete without a visit to David Green, a furrier in Anchorage for more than 50 years. We stopped, touched and tried on fur hats, gloves, scarfs. Lovely!
A few streets to the west in downtown Anchorage is the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It is named after a previous Mayor and governor of Alaska and winds along the coast 11 miles from downtown Anchorage through forests to the outskirts of town. We stopped along the trail dodging bikers, walkers and runners to view Sleeping Lady Mountain. Mount Susitna is often called The Sleeping Lady for its resemblance to a recumbent woman.
From the park we went to the downtown Captain Cook Monument in Resolution Park. Cook is perched on a large wooden deck looking out toward Denali and the Port of Anchorage. Lots of things are named after Captain Cook in Anchorage - Cook Inlet and the 4 Star Captain Cook Hotel for example.
Since it is not winter, the chances of seeing the aurora borealis are slim. So we went to a viewing of the Aurora: Alaska’s Great Northern Lights. It is a rare collection of auroral occurrences across the grand night winter sky of Alaska. Extraordinary! Sue did not want to leave the theatre.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center was another not to be missed stop on our personal tour. The Center offers a unique experience for each visitor to learn and explore the traditional and contemporary ways of Alaskan’s indigenous cultures. We were able to see a dance performance and I ate yet another reindeer sausage. My choice of street food on this trip! Ask Sue about her experience eating spicy reindeer sausage.
The trolly tour we took last week drove us past Lake Hood, the busiest float plane facility in the United States. However, we wanted to go back and watch more float plane takeoffs and landings. We sat in the park on Spenard Road watching the pilots take advantage of the warm sunny day with the sky full of small aircraft. Over 9,000 planes are registered in Alaska, definitely the most per capita in the U.S.
Later Sunday evening we picked up Gacie for a rare dinner on the town at a local black owned restaurant - Roscoe’s. Roscoe greeted Gracie with a big hug, welcomed me back to Anchorage and invited Sue to come in again on her next trip. It was the perfect end to a Sunday on the town.
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