Anchorage (1 Jun)
It's the first day of spring and we celebrated by only wearing 3 layers of clothing, at least for a while. When we went out we put on coats and hats.
We've both had a prolonged period of coughs and colds, more severe than usual, and we've taken a while to shake them off. Over half of our fellow travellers are in the same boat. However, we are making progress and today we decided to go out and see what we could of Anchorage.
We went in to the town on a free shuttle and eventually joined a 1 hour tour of Anchorage. It cost US$20 each and was worth every cent. Our driver/commentator was a performer who sang to us, told us jokes and kept us well informed. Among the many stops was Earthquake Park which is where a lot of damage occurred in the 1964 Alaska Earthquake. It was 9.2 on the Richter Scale (second most powerful ever recorded) and lasted 4 mins 38 seconds. Earthquake Park used to be a residential area but half of it split from the other half and was thrust up and down before stopping. Now that area is below the adjacent land and is all permanently wavy - it looks like a BMX racing track. Fortunately the earthquake occurred on Good Friday so there were fewer deaths than on regular business day. We remember visiting Valdez when we did the Alaska Cruise and it found that it's port city was 3 miles inland a a result of the same earthquake.
We drove through neighbourhoods, saw monuments and buildings, and then came to Turnagain Arm, an arm of Cook Inlet. Interestingly,Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh was Cook's Sailing Master on his voyage to discover the Northwest Passage. Bligh believed (correctly) that Turnagain Arm and another arm did not lead to the northwest passage and, once this was proven, they had to "turn again".
The picture below shows Cook looking out over Turnagain Arm.
Later we came to an unusual airport. Alaska has about half of the single engine planes in the USA and it looked like most of them were here. These pictures represent 1 or 2 % of what was parked there. In the height of summer there are about 800 take-offs a day
They even have an old de Havilland
There's a "wet" airstrip too with planes parked around the edge, either on their floats on the water or right beside the water. A lot of these planes are private pleasure craft in the way Aucklanders have boats. 5% of Alaskans have pilot licences and getting a pilot licence is an elective at high school.
We've both had a prolonged period of coughs and colds, more severe than usual, and we've taken a while to shake them off. Over half of our fellow travellers are in the same boat. However, we are making progress and today we decided to go out and see what we could of Anchorage.
We went in to the town on a free shuttle and eventually joined a 1 hour tour of Anchorage. It cost US$20 each and was worth every cent. Our driver/commentator was a performer who sang to us, told us jokes and kept us well informed. Among the many stops was Earthquake Park which is where a lot of damage occurred in the 1964 Alaska Earthquake. It was 9.2 on the Richter Scale (second most powerful ever recorded) and lasted 4 mins 38 seconds. Earthquake Park used to be a residential area but half of it split from the other half and was thrust up and down before stopping. Now that area is below the adjacent land and is all permanently wavy - it looks like a BMX racing track. Fortunately the earthquake occurred on Good Friday so there were fewer deaths than on regular business day. We remember visiting Valdez when we did the Alaska Cruise and it found that it's port city was 3 miles inland a a result of the same earthquake.
We drove through neighbourhoods, saw monuments and buildings, and then came to Turnagain Arm, an arm of Cook Inlet. Interestingly,Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh was Cook's Sailing Master on his voyage to discover the Northwest Passage. Bligh believed (correctly) that Turnagain Arm and another arm did not lead to the northwest passage and, once this was proven, they had to "turn again".
The picture below shows Cook looking out over Turnagain Arm.
Later we came to an unusual airport. Alaska has about half of the single engine planes in the USA and it looked like most of them were here. These pictures represent 1 or 2 % of what was parked there. In the height of summer there are about 800 take-offs a day
They even have an old de Havilland
There's a "wet" airstrip too with planes parked around the edge, either on their floats on the water or right beside the water. A lot of these planes are private pleasure craft in the way Aucklanders have boats. 5% of Alaskans have pilot licences and getting a pilot licence is an elective at high school.
Tomorrow we are promised a scenic drive to Glennallen. There may be wifi there.
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