Day 7, Monday, July 25

 We are in Anchorage for a full day of sightseeing and a surprise for Barb.

Ed first went up to the Lounge for his free breakfast and the quantity and quality of the food was very good for a US Marriott.

After breakfast we left to go the Visitors Center and took the Anchorage Trolly at 10:00am.

The trolly took us on a 1-hour sightseeing ride around the city and it was fun.

One of the major facts about Anchorage was the earthquake that occurred on March 27, 1964 which was the largest in US history (magnitude 9.2 on the Richter scale) and the second largest ever recorded in the world. Only 115 people died because it was a holiday.

The main road downtown in Anchorage was split right down the middle with one side dropping 14 feet!

The driver showed us an area out by the airport that and entire section of houses were destroyed when the earth also dropped there by 14 feet!!

The other amazing site was the airport for private planes.  There were hundreds of them and there were several lakes actually at the airport where the small float planes were docked and could take off and land from.   

After the tour, we went around the corner to have an early lunch at the F Street Station because Rick Snow had recommended it and it was very good.

Then it was time to go to the Anchorage Center for the Performing Arts where we received a private tour by the Stage Manager (who had been there 30 years) of an amazing facility.  They have multiple auditoriums for different sizes of performances.  Back stage we walked down an isle that had posters and signatures of all the performers and staff that had appeared there, including Jan Leno who was the initial performer.

Then Ed stalled until it was 3:00pm and went to Sullivans Steakhouse to meet Lil and Bob Crow who we had met in Puerto Rico a number of years ago way out in the countryside when we were driving about the island.  Barb was really surprised.  There are now living 2 hours north of Anchorage and living on several hundred acres off the grid.  They had amazing stories and we had a fun couple of hours talking about their life in Alaska.

We then went back to the Performing Arts Center to see a movie about the Aurora Borealis and it was very interesting.

Finally, after 13,000 steps we made it back to the hotel and our busy day was finished.

Tomorrow we are still in Anchorage and have some wonderful things to do.

Stay tuned for tomorrow.

Night - Night

                                                            One of the runways at the airport

                                                Flowers are amazing here - everything is 

                                                bigger than back home.  These are 3' tall!!

                                                            Lunch at the F Street Station

                                          The main stage at the Center for the Performing Arts

                                                            Backstage walkway

                                                               Lil and Robert Crow

                                                                   Ahi Tuna for dinner

                                             It's 10:00pm and sunset is at 11:00pm but it be

                                                light out all night!!   This is too weird

                                                It's after 11pm and the sun has set!!

Day 6, Sunday, July 24

 

We slept in as there was nothing we wanted to do except get on the train. We left the hotel at 11:00am because that was the latest the hotel shuttle was available to go to the train station.The train was right on time so we took off at 12:30pm for 8 hour trip to Anchorage.

Soon after we left they called us to breakfast which was very good. We enjoy our lunch sitting with a couple from California.

Then it was just a long train ride for 6 hours when we stopped at the town of Talkeena to left a large group off.

For dinner we were joined by a couple from West Virginia and had a very good meal with a nice couple.
Then we passed be the little town that Rick Snow lives in.


As it is close to Anchorage there were regular houses and stores. Rick lives out of town in a house he built with his own airplane hanger!

We were delayed getting into Anchorage due to the tracks being overheated and the train had to slow down. Then as we were already late, we had to pull of on a siding to let a large freight train pass.


We finally made it into Anchorage about 2 hours late and then we took a Uber to the Downtown Marriott.

We are going to have a fun couple of days in Anchorage.


Night - night

Our Train to Anchorage for the next 10 hours
 

The view from the train as we were on our way

Going over a very long bridge

                                                                Great seat location

More mountains - these are smaller ones then in Denali

Our huge room at the Downtown Marriott until Wednesday