Had a much more peaceful night this time. No wind to wake us up in the middle of the night. Still cold and a little dreary outside, but blissfully quiet. Packed our bags, organized our travel gear and headed out to Denali for one last time. Got to the park around 10 am and hiked a short trail from the Visitors Center out to Horseshoe Lake. About 3 miles through the forest, smelling of spruce and decomposing leaves. We were only 2 of about 6 people out there – so we had the place to ourselves. It was chilly, but not overly so, more brisk for an hour long hike.
Made it to the lake and back safely without spotting any threatening wildlife. Did get to watch a little red squirrel gather spruce cones and hide them in 2 little dens. He couldn’t care less that we were there, just kept scampering out onto the trail to pick up cones, then back to his little storage lairs. Very cute – even though we are no fan of squirrels! In the wild, they are fine – on our deck, eating our grill – not so cute or fine!
Back in the car, we started our 4 hour trek back to Anchorage. Skies were still pretty dreary with occasional bouts of rain. On the way down, we enjoyed the end of the Fall colors and laughed at the fact that every single road sign had buck shot holes or dents. Obviously a favorite past time in this neck of the woods is target practice on road signs. Some of them were so shot up, you couldn’t even read them.
We stopped at a pretty little roadside pullout by a lake to eat our lunch – purloined snack boxes from the Denali tour. They had fully stocked the bus with a lunch on every seat. Since there were only 20 of us, Joe, our guide, said we could have extras – so we did. Summer sausage, mustard, cheese and chips for a 2nd day. Still really good!
As we drove, we once again marveled at the sheer vastness of Alaska – and the sheer isolation of these towns along Highway 3. There is 100 miles between towns in some instances. And the towns are all little more than crossroads with motels, diners and gas stations. Oh, and espresso huts. Yes, espresso huts. Everywhere, at every cross road and teeny little encampment, there were teeny tiny little buildings selling espresso and coffee. On the go, drive through, stop in, you name it – espresso was everywhere!
After a while – can’t tell you exactly where – we started to see this great walking path next to the road. We’re talking maybe 50 or 60 miles out from Wasilla maybe? Could not for the life of us figure out what it was, until we saw it: an ATV driving down the path. It was a huge, long ATV path for winter – and we guess those who just drove ATV’s, not regular motorized vehicles. OMG – what an expense that must have been! I mean kudos to the safety aspect, but really! Is that truly necessary? We don’t live here, so we can’t really make a judgment, but it sure seems like a lot of money for an ATV track.
Back in civilization, if you could call it that! We hit Wasilla again. This time we went in search of the City Hall and found it! Cutest little building all decked out with flowers and pretty painting on the side designating it as the place for governmental affairs in Wasilla. Couldn’t resist snapping a couple of pictures, then heading out back to real civilization and the big hopping town of Anchorage!
Actually, Anchorage isn’t all that bad of a town. Nice size, small, very drivable. The architecture leaves a bit to be desired, all the apartment complexes look like military barracks – probably from the huge influx of military here. Some of the single homes are cute – in that Alaskan sort of way. Downtown is set up in square grids, everything within easy reach and easy locations.
We checked back into the Long House – worked for a while (thank heavens for wi-fi at the Long House), then headed out to find a local brewery/restaurant we had read about. Had asked guy at registration for recommendations and he pointed out all the touristy traps listed on the sightseeing map. One called Gwennies was right down the road, literally walkable with old Alaskan décor and a pub menu. Sounded good until you looked up the reviews, none of which were good. So we did our own investigation and came up with the Snow Goose and the Sleeping Lady brewery.
Only 10 minutes from the hotel, in downtown Anchorage, the Snow Goose and Sleeping Lady was a hit. We chose to eat upstairs in the bar, with a great view of the Matanuska River. Menu was all inventive pub style. Just as an example, specials included rockfish tacos with wasabi lime aoli. Started out with fried portabello mushrooms that came with a spicy chipotle ranch dipping sauce. The mushrooms were cut into strips, lightly breaded and perfectly fried. The dipping sauce was so good, we kept it for our main meal! Ed got his fish and chips – Halibut and fries (which we summarily dunked in the ranch and aoli sauces). I got the Halibut sandwich with wasabi lime aoli (I wasn’t going to miss out on that aoli!) Both meals were excellent, although my piece of fish was a bit on the skinny side. Didn’t matter as I certainly didn’t need more food, but that was truly our only complaint about the whole meal.
Back to the hotel – we repacked our suitcases, did more emails and hit the hay. Tomorrow – we’re off to the Far East!!!
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