Into the Midnight Sun: Sniffed, but not Eaten

This morning we woke to sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage in the campground. It was a great way to start the day. As we were sitting in the old wood lodge on old tables, I felt like I was back at summer camp. It's like RV parks are the adult version of summer camp, except without the cheesy ice-breaker games. I slept great last night, but Katie had an entirely different experience involving a large animal outside the tent. Apparently, she heard an animal come up and sniff long sniffs around the camp area, and then lay down right next to her on the other side of the tent. As she was going through possible escape routes in her head, she began to have to go to the bathroom. What does it mean when you need to pee at the sign of danger? Anyway, when she unzipped her sleeping bag, she heard the animal get up, and footsteps over the tarp under the tent. We never found out what it was. Katie believes it was a Yetti, while I think it was a wolf or coyote or something else that would be drawn to the scent of cats that was undoubtedly all over us. Good thing they were closed up in the car.

We headed down from Tok to Anchorage, an easy 320 miles, except for the long bouts of road construction again. We reached the Chugach range and were amazed. After 6 days of driving through mountains, sometimes we just forget that they are there. They just become a natual part of the landscape. Except when we reached this range. This is a mountain range that puts Banff to shame. This is what all other mountain ranges strive to be but can't. It was by far our most favorite range so far. Even the cats were in awe:

Entering the Chugach Range:

The sky was cloudy, so it's difficult to see the snow, but the mountains are covered in snow caps, and glacier fingers come down from the mountains:


Tazlina Glacier:

Gunsight Mountain- there is a notch on the top that looks like a gunsight:


Lion's head rock: looks like a Lion guarding the mountains:


Matanuska Glacier:


Matanuska Glacier Close-up


We saw very few animals today. Maybe Katie's too-close encounter jinxed us. But we did see some domestic animals: Musk Ox, llamas tied up right next to the shoulder of the road, and some pet goats who had escaped their enclosure.


When we finally reached Anchorage, a town I was so excited to see, I was very disappointed. It was not very nice. Maybe it was the cloudy sky and drizzle. But the buildings seemed old and run-down, and it seemed really dirty. We got to the hotel I had reservations at, and I refused to park there. It didn't seem like a safe place to leave all my remaining worldly possessions. I was sure my bike would be gone the next morning. So we drove through town looking for a nice place to stay. It took a while. We had to go all the way to the airport area, and even then, this hotel we are in is the least-nice hotel we have been in on the trip.

Maybe the 7 days in the country and wilderness have destroyed my tolerance for city life. I do not like Anchorage. In fact, we went to a restaurant, and it was so crowded and busy, that even though we had heard amazing things about it, we had to leave. It's as if we've become so accustomed to elderly RVers that we can't tolerate being with our own kind again. This may become problemmatic. Especially for Katie, since she has to go backto the cities soon.

I give Anchorage 1 and 1/2 thumbs down. The only parts I liked were the Wyland mural:


and the restaurant we found and ate at. We sat on a deck overlooking the Cook Inlet, and ate salmon burgers and chowder, while watching the sunset. Did you hear that? Sun set!! We realized we had been driving south all day, and while there was no sunset in Tok, there was a beautiful one in Anchorage. Maybe Katie will have a chance to see the Northern Lights before she leaves.


Tomorrow we head to Soldotna, and I get to see my new home for the first time. I have been told the drive down there is one of the 10 most beautiful drives in the world. Kind of exciting that after tomorrow, we will have driven down 2 of the 10.