Alaska Adventure Day 10: Alyeska to Anchorage

Sunday morning and I was ready for my Sunday newspaper and some real news after being on the ship for a week. Well, the newspaper stand (not open until 9:00 AM had the Anchorage paper- not exactly the NY Times) and we turned on the TV hoping for a Sunday morning of news shows. We managed to catch the end of “Meet the Press” and then searched the channels for more news. What we found was a selection of old 50’s sit-coms…”I Love Lucy”, Andy Griffith.

Breakfast options were minimal…either the coffee bar with muffins wrapped in plastic or the over-priced dining room (with $17.00 breakfast buffet). We opted for ordering ala carte and had a nice breakfast. We had the entire morning free- departing at 1:30 pm for Anchorage. The options were, again, minimal. There was the hotel shuttle into “town”. “Town” consisted of a jade shop and a few small stores.

Since the hotel was located at the base of the Alyeska Ski Resort, we opted for the Alyeska Tram that takes you 2,300 feet up the mountain in a 7 minute ride – and at the end– scenic views and a seriously overpriced restaurant (Reindeer hotdogs for $10). We were up and down in a matter of an hour and decided that, with nothing else to do, we might as well eat lunch. We split a sandwich, talked a bit with the waitress and then found a comfortable couch to read a book while we waited for the coach to leave.

Finally, on the road to Anchorage. The drive was a short one, about an hour and a half, and we longingly looked at the city skyline in our view. But, we were on a schedule and were dropped off at the Alaska Native Heritage Center – for a 2 hour stop! The Center is on a 26 acre site facing the Chugach Mountains and was designed to provide visitors with an introduction to Alaska’s native peoples. We walked in and found a native dance presentation going on in the main building. What is it about native American culture that I find so totally uninteresting? The dances are too much stomping and grunting for my taste, so I suggested we take a walk around the lake outside where they have put together exhibits of native villages.
With time on our hands, we watched a video on humpback whales, combed the gift shop and finally decided to use the time to call home!

Anchorage Today:
Anchorage was incorporated in 1920, still a young city, and grew largely due to the construction of the Alaska Railroad. Nearly everything was built in the last few decades. Today it serves as the center for oil development and a hub for government, banking, transportation and communication. The median age of the population (43,000) is 32.4 and most are from outside Alaska. (Alaska Native people represent less than 8% of the total population!) It is a gorgeous city- on the shores of Cook Inlet and surrounded by the Chugach Mountains. It was at the epicenter of the 1964 earthquake – the largest ever recorded in North America. The downtown was devastated –the ground beneath buildings dropped as much as 10 feet.

Exploring Anchorage
We were dropped off at the Marriott Anchorage at 6 PM, found our room (with a beautiful view) and headed out for dinner and shopping.

The downtown is compact and the streets are lined with hanging flower baskets (blue lobelia and marigolds to reflect the colors of the state flag). The streets are laid out on a grid pattern making it very easy to get around. Our first priority was shopping – there is no sales tax in Anchorage and based on the pace of our land tour so far, we wanted to take advantage of every opportunity. Then, it was eating. Eating out in Alaska is always a bit of a shock- the prices are New York City prices. A simple entrée typically runs from $20-40. We checked out all of the popular tourist restaurants and finally settled on a local dive, Phyllis’s Café and Salmon Bake. They were having a special on king crab legs- 1 pound for $19.95- complete with boiled new potatoes, and some really bad corn on the cob. I guess you had to try the crab legs – but, as always, they’re a lot of work…