Last Day

We only had one day left on our trip. But we do have a long day, since our flight out isn't until late at night. So we linger over the fantastic breakfast served at the Hidden Creek B&B...let me tell you, this place is worth it for the breakfast alone! (although the rooms are really nice too).

After we pack up, we set off towards Anchorage. We will linger along the way. Its a very scenic drive along Turnagain Arm, with lots of scenic overlooks. This one is Beluga Point:

From North to Alaska

We also stop for a while at Potter Marsh, which is a bird refuge. There are boardwalks that lead out into the wetlands, where you can see a lot of different coastal birds and songbirds and such. Songbirds are so small, they are hard to photograph, but I tried:

From North to Alaska

Once we got into Anchorage, we parked the car and decided to wander and shop a little bit. We found we had wandered right into the middle of their Solstice festival. It struck me as such a small town kind of festival. There were lots of kids games, some artists, a bit of local musical talent, and all the other things you might find at a small town fair. I did like the guy doing chainsaw sculpture:

From North to Alaska

When we got tired, we wandered into the Glacier Brewhouse for a beer and a snack. We sat at a table in the bar, shared with some other folks, and ended up having a very fun conversation with them all. One was a recent transplant who was loving his new life in the last frontier, the others were runners who had completed a marathon the previous day. One if the runners was also a photographer so we got to comparing pictures and cameras. It was a very pleasant afternoon. And Glacier Brewhouse makes good beer too!

Afterwards, we sat down for our last great dinner of the trip, at Orso, the Italian restaurant right next door. Highly recommended!

Then it was off to the airport...take may advice, do NOT use google maps to find the Anchorage airport. It took us around the wrong side, and expected us to use restricted access roads to cut across the airport. Good thing we had plenty of time!

Our flight was very long, but fortunately uneventful.

And now we're back home. My cats have forgiven us, the fish we shipped from Homer has arrived, I'm back at work and life is back to normal. Except now I have a bit of Alaska in my soul, and I hope I can go back and add to it sometime soon :)