Anchorage part two, June 29th and 30th.

Today was exciting.  We did the laundry, went shopping at Costco.  Then we met with my daughter Bonnie's h.s. friend Mary Mosher-Armstrong and her husband Christopher, who recommended we eat at the Moose's Tooth Pizza, (at the same time and place as everyone else in Anchorage).  Very busy, but good pizza.

This is Christopher, Mary, and Pauline outside the Moose's Tooth Pizza.

Sunday morning, as is our custom, we went out for breakfast.  We went to a place you may have heard of, called Denny's.  (sooo original)
We had read of a park called Earthquake Park so off we went to explore.  

  In March 1964, South central Alaska, including Anchorage,  Girdwood, and quite a few other towns were hit by a 9.2 earthquake.  Really shook every one up (bad pun).  This park was dedicated to memorialize that event.  

   There were a lot of homes and business that were completely destroyed by the quake and a huge area was devastated.  So bad nothing was restored.  There were a bunch of interpretive signs which we read very quickly--all the while waving our arms about very rapidly.  Yep, you guessed, just hoards of MOSQUITOES.  The worst infestation so far--and we had left our mosquito net jackets in the RV.  

 So we read quick, walked faster, and got the hello out of there.
We headed out of the Seward highway to see Girdwood and the area of Turnagain Arm.  That whole town was moved inland, as were several other communities, due to the earthquake.  On the way we found Potter's Marsh, which was originally created by the railroad line berm near the shore of Turnagain Arm, and now a part of a Wildlife Sanctuary.  Very, very nice.

Potters Marsh is a very large Sanctuary for both birds and animals, such as Bears, moose and humans.  We thought it strange that right across the highway from the Marsh is one of Alaska's largest shooting range, from which loud retorts rang out that day.  

  There were about four or five miles of boardwalk (--another exaggeration, but of substantial length) that we covered and enjoyed.  Lots of birds visible, and interpretive panels all along the walk. 

A pair of American Wigeon Ducks

A Northern Shoveler duck after a meal.

 Tracks of some of the marsh critters.  As you can see there are moose, bear, and birds of all sizes.

A pair of Green wing Teal ducks as ease.

 A big duck family on parade.

A lot of interpretive signage on the walk.

Fence railings/blinds were decorated with some of the critters of the Marsh.

Pauline enjoyed it too, even in the damp cold weather.

The train and highway ran next to the Marsh, but none of the critters paid any attention to them or the people on the boardwalk.







We continued  to explore more of the Turnagain Arm of Cook's Inlet. 

Turnagain Arm is a long shallow body of water with a very fast and notable tidal surge.  Quite a few people have been in big trouble when they become stuck on the mud flats when the tide comes in, in such a hurry.  

Bird Point State park on Turnagain Arm is another viewpoint--and a fairly new one--(with nicely detailed stone masonry & landscape architectural planning) on this very scenic drive.  

 It sits up high on the point (yet with accessible ramps) so that one can observe the tidal surge in complete safety.

 

It began to drizzle, but we had our rain-gear handy! --still at Bird Point.

This is Seward Highway running along side the Arm.  There was a lot of Sunday afternoon traffic of Alaskans heading back from the famed Kenai Peninsula.

 Here is the tram house at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood.  We had planned on taking a ride up, but the cloud layer was so low as to obscure the wonderful views, so we just watched the empty cars go up and down for a little bit and went back to explore Girdwood.

As we left Girdwood we saw a couple of "hanging glaciers" above.  When they are not all the way down to a valley they are called "hanging".  They are also not named, as some other glaciers are.  There are a lot of them and they are receding, but so are most all the glaciers.


On the way back to the RV, the tide had gone out on the Arm and so we noticed the extensive mud flats--very dangerous areas! 

As you can see, not somewhere you would want to be with the tide change.  I don't understand why or how but we have been told the tide changes faster here than southern US.

We also saw another informational Poster on the earthquake.  On the way back to the RV (still, we will make it yet) 

My Dear Bride wanted to visit a greenhouse.  Why this one?  (I was advised that places such as this are where the wonderful flowering baskets we admired downtown are kept in wintertime.  It's quite a big business to rent space for Fuchsias, Begonias and the like.  These plants are kept growing so they are large, & nice & healthy, and ready to be placed outside again as soon as the frost abates!  The City, as well as residents without their own greenhouses make use of these services.)

This is where the magic happens, but it's empty in the summer.  For $40 a plant they will return to the streets in the spring, big and beautiful.








Instead of the RV we went to the Anchorage Museum.  As soon as we went in we realized this was to big, with too much information to take in the two hours we had. 

Pauline with the ubiquitous bear

'First Nation' cultural exhibits

Couple of the displays at the Museum.

Reindeer shelter at the Museum








There was a whole lot more but it was closing and we were leaving the next day,  Gee whiz, were we going to miss something?  Looks like it.

The next day on our jello schedule we are headed for Soldotna, the largest inland town on the Kenai Peninsula.  On the way we made a side trip to Portage Glacier.  It was not great weather, but we are from Oregon so rain does not stop us. 

When we got to Portage Bay, we visited the Visitor Center, of course, and got some great shots there also.

We tried out the kayak.  That did not work.  I think we were doing something wrong.

 (believe this??)

A couple of good shots of the Portage Glacier.

Portage River flowing out of Portage Bay, which makes sense.











 

We are now back on Seward Highway.  We have found the highways up here are called by names rather than the numbers (like home example I-5).






And also back to the wilderness and highway construction.

Rain spotted windshield & wet highway

Soldotna Junction is soon and we will head off for the Kenai (say keen-eye) Peninsula

 This is the Kenai Lake which flows into Kenai River & will be our companion for quite a while as we cruise the Sterling Highway all the way to Homer.  

At Soldotna we had a piece of this big, juicy, beautiful Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, (made with the authentic Alaskan Rhubarb I picked in Fairbanks).

See you later.....for more adventures