Alaska VI: Anchorage Redux

Dave and I spent the Fourth of July 2022 in Anchorage.  We didn't want to navigate the closed tourist sites and busy parade routes on our own, so we took two city tours, on in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Out plane didn't leave until 11:30 p.m., so, after the tours ended, we drove north into the Matanuska Valley, the breadbasket of Alaska.
 

Gary, the guide of the first half-day tour, was a punster and one-half native, which made him very interesting.  

Gary chauffeured a small group of us—a dozen or so—in a comfortable van.   He told us about his mother, who worked in a cooperative that made scarves and sweaters out of musk oxen hair.  She had raised him in a village on the shores of the Bering Sea, near Nome.  Gary strongly identified as Native American, including feeling commonality with  Indians of other tribes around the United States.  He was just back from Arizona, where he had a girlfriend who was also Native American.

We first stopped at an ulu factory, where I bought my own ulu.  An ulu is a curved Alaskan knife, which is used to cut up food within a curved wooden cutting bowl.  I pictured myself chopping carrots and nuts just like an Eskimo (Inuit).  

Part of the package was a cutting board with a depression in the middle to fit my ulu.

One site on every tour of Anchorage is Ship Creek, where the first railway from Seward terminated in the early 1900s.  Seward was a port open throughout the winter, and Anchorage was a town with access to the interior (Fairbanks, Nome) which was also a port on the Cook Inlet, leading to the Pacific Ocean.  Anchorage was created as a railroad hub and seaport.  Ship Creek is now a quiet spot where anglers fish.

We drove to Earthquake Park, where there had been a 2 ½ story drop during the 9.2 Richter Scale earthquake of 1964.  It is now a leafy glade, with steep stairs down into the area where the earthquake created a sharp drop in the landscape.  In downtown Anchorage, as well, there were steep drop-offs which were the effects of the earthquake nearly 60 years ago.  We drove past Eathquake Park to a wooded area, where we stopped to watch a moose and her calf munching tree branches.   

Gary showed us a large area nearby into which moose can wander but then not get out.  Anchorage natives view moose much as we do deer in SLC—a minor nuisance, but not dangerous enough to pen up.  

We drove to Point Woronzof, where we had pictures taken with the skyscrapers of Anchorage as a backdrop, and we learned about the dangerous mud flats around the city which turn into quicksand for visitors who venture into them.  

I found Anchorage charming.  It is a small city with a quirky culture and big ambitions, much like Salt Lake.

Our guide said that Anchorage has one of the largest FedEx fleets in the world, since planes take mail through Anchorage to Asia and, also, over the pole to Europe.

We also stopped at the largest pontoon plane airport in the world and watched small planes landing on Lake Hood.  Gary said that one in twenty Alaskans has a pilot’s license.

Another stop was at Alaskan Wild Berry Products, where I bought blueberry and raspberry/rhubarb  syrups to take home with me.  

We met one more Alaskan bear at Wild Berry Products.

We drove out of town and saw the tracks for the Alaska Railroad, which had been created by the pioneers.  Before we returned to town, Gary laid out reindeer sausage and cheeses on a picnic table for us to try.

We ate the best meal of the trip at Simon and Seaport, a restaurant recommended by Gary and by a couple of guests on our tour.

 Of course, it was seafood—halibut cheeks, also as recommended by Gary. 

The grand finale was key lime pie.

Our second tour was the “deluxe”, 1/12 hour Anchorage Trolley Tour, which covered many of the same spots we visited on our morning tour.  The guide of the second tour was a BYU student, raised in Alaska.  Repetition is always great for learning.

Throughout our days in Anchorage, we stopped again and again at Wild Scoops, an independent ice cream store with flavors like "white raven," "Sitka swirl," and "spruce tip."

Since our plane didn't leave till nearly midnight, we spent a couple of hours, in the evening, driving north through the Matanuska Valley.  It is the agricultural heartland of Alaska, with lush fields.  We drove through Wasilla, where Sarah Palin comes from.  She said she could see Russia from her home, but we couldn't see Russia from anywhere in Wasilla!