Anchorage, Alaska

North to Alaska, here we go!

May 31, 2016

After almost a year of planning, a small but enthusiastic group of us are heading off to Alaska! The group that initially looked like it would be as large as 20, eventually has been reduced to 6 (eight if you count Keith and Elaine new friends from the Villages). RC, Beth (Lizzie) and I from Florida, Elaine Tucker, Patty George and Billie Joe Harrington from Buffalo met in Seattle and then on to Anchorage, Alaska!

Beth and Billie Joe are best friends. I worked with and have fond memories of Billie from back on the assembly line in the early 80’s. She is a great person and very well suited for travel with Beth. She seems to have a calming influence on Beth who sometimes is a little anxious in travel situations. Patty and Elaine have been friends since childhood. Patty is the only one of us who still is gainfully employed. Elaine and I have traveled the world, but sometimes I feel like my health limitations hold her back. Patty, on the other hand pushed her so far outside her comfort zone it was amazing! They zip lined, white water rafted, rode a dog sled on a glacier, and flew on a float plane and a helicopter! Wow! RC and I have been traveling together for going on 30 years. He mostly takes it easy with me but occasionally steps out to go, say fly fishing on his own or with our new friend Keith.

May is a significant month for me. Briana calls it the Trifecta: Mother’s Day, my Anniversary, and my birthday. It is also RC’s birthday and the month I’m feeling the wanderlust the most. As long as I can remember I loved to get away in May. When I lived in the frigid North I used the unrelenting winter as an excuse, but even from Florida I feel the tug to travel in May.

June 1, 2016

First Stop: Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is Alaska’s most populous city and contains more than 40 percent of the state’s total population. In 1964 the Good Friday earthquake devastated the city and changed its landscape forever. Every Native Alaskan has a story to relate and no building over a couple of stories can be built due to the fear of a repeat.  The city is quaint and sleepy; crime and traffic are non-existent. They are just beginning to ramp up for the tourist season and the weather is perfect, 70’s and sunny! The newspaper, The Alaska Dispatch, was this day dominated by 3 front page Moose stories (Moose gave birth in a Lowes parking lot, Woman stomped by a Moose, and Moose Population appears to be down).

      

We took a nice trolley ride and a bus trip to see a mind blowing Glacier. Dinner split us up and RC and I took a carriage ride to a local place while the others went on a somewhat less successful salmon seeking adventure ending with some less than satisfactory dinners. I am reminded that this is week one of the tourist season here. Ooops mishap #1!