8-19-12
After pictures and the fellows left for the Denali tour, Lenore and I took a walk along the river, I did some Internet in their hotel since I could get on there, but not at mine across the street, and we did some shopping in the nice gift store there. Since the shuttle service got us to the train station a bit early, we walked over the the Welcoming Center the National Park. It had some nice displays and we enjoyed a 1/2 hour or so of the center. We caught our train and after some confusion, we were able to sit together. It began to rain soon after our we left, but it was still a beautiful ride. But the mountain didn't cooperate again and we never saw it on our ride to Anchorage. The domed car made seeing the sights so easy and it was an 8 hour ride of pure relaxation. A young man gave a running commentary of what we were seeing the entire trip. We even had a nice dinner in the dining car later in the day.
At about 8 p.m. we arrived in Anchorage and a shuttle bus took us to our nice hotel We realized that we would need a second night so we even stayed in one place for almost 48 hours. It was a lovely way to start adjusting to a slower pace. I believe we had been up at 6 a.m. or earlier, the entire convoy. I was ready for some later mornings.
On Monday, we took at easy in the morning after a full breakfast at the hotel. Just about noon, we took a walk and found the trolley that was suggested for an hour city tour. It helped orient us and then we knew what else we wanted to see for the rest of our stay. The town did not seem as big as the 277,000 population that they boasted. We found we could walk to see most of the things we wanted to see. After a nice salmon burger lunch, we browsed an antique shop, had ice cream, and ambled back to the hotel. We decided dinner at an Asian restaurant in front of the hotel suited us fine.
On Tuesday, we again had a leisurely breakfast and then decided we would spend the afternoon at the Anchorage Museum and have lunch there. It was a wonderful place and had displays that were very interesting on all the various First Nation peoples. The museum lunch was near large windows and flowers were blooming there, as well. Later we did some more gift shopping and we enjoyed waling since the day had finally turned sunny and comfortable.
We sat in the breakfast room and I did some Internet and we got organized for our trip to the airport at 9 p.m. As we were being shuttled there, I asked the driver where one could possibly see Denali from Anchorage, over 200 miles away from the park? In the next few minutes he pointed, and sure enough, it had cleared and there it was in lovely blues and pinks, far, far away, but we did see the mountain! I was so happy about that; of course the camera was in my purse!
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| Pretending we are in front of the Mountain! |
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| A stuffed moose is a Moose, after all! |
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| The train arrived and we got to sit together after all! |
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| View from the train; it rained all day! |
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| Cigar store Indian! |
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| At the Cook Inlet in Anchorage |
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| Sod roof on the City trolley store. |
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| Flowers everywhere in Anchorage, too! |
