Alaskan Cruise: The Big City (Anchorage, Alaska 6.25.26)

The highlight of our visit to Anchorage on June 25 and 25, 2026, was a trip 50 miles southeast of the city, to Turnagain Arm and Portage Glacier.  We followed the railroad tracks towards Seward, where cruise ships from the Inside Passage usually dock.  Completion of the railroad from Seward to Anchorage in 1918 was a big milestone.  Anchorage grew from a tent city to the biggest metropolis in Alaska, connecting the Inside Passage, with cities like Sitka and the state capital, Juneau, to the great interior of the state.  The scenery was spectacular.

 

We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, where native Alaskan animals are kept in large outside areas.

Dave's favorite souvenir is a t-shirt, and he found one he liked at the Conservation Center.

We drove on to Portage Glacier, stopping at a jewel of a lake, and then on towards the glacier.

We hiked through a forest to get a better view.

Dave and I also spent an afternoon in downtown Anchorage.  We stopped at the ice cream store we remembered from an earlier visit to Anchorage.  It had flavors like spruce tips (a citrusy delicacy in Alaska). And, of course, "moose tracks."

I love the Anchorage Museum, with its fine collection of pieces by Alaskan artists and its interesting special exhibits.

I especially enjoyed an offbeat exhibit on humor in Alaskan art.  This is a painting titled, "Mt. McKinley As Seen from the Grand Canal Rialto Bridge."

The exhibit included a collection of banners and license plates with snide sayings.

Another piece of art was a satire on Alaskan weather, including entries, within a single week, for "earthquakes", "dangerous wind gusts", "heavy snow fall", "ice locusts," and "polar bears".

This piece, by a Tlingit artist, gave food for thought.  It superimposed a Northeast Coast mask as the head of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa".  The tag said the artist was criticizing the art world's preoccupation with Western art, as well as male fascination with certain styles of female beauty!

I booked a culinary tour in Anchorage, but I had to miss it when a big deadline at work loomed.  Dave appreciates culinary tours much less than I do, but he was a good sport to go on the tour, take pictures, and tell me all about it.  The tour visited several small Anchorage cafes, with specialties of waffles, sourdough bread, and tacos.  The only one of those items I think of as distinctively Alaskan is the sourdough bread, but it is good to know that an eclectic culinary scene is alive and well even in Alaska!