Anchored-down in Anchorage!

Leaving Wassila on a beautiful morning we motored fifty miles south on the Parkway, to Anchorage. Along the way we passed several teams of female prison inmates working hard on the central reservation, clearing it of litter. Having been forewarned to expect to re-encounter 'big city' life again, especially as half of Alaska's population resides in Anchorage, we were pleasantly surprised when we docked. The City is similar to Seattle, but smaller...its clean, laid-back, and scenic....an easy place to be in spring! Way too early to check-in we parked our car at the hotel in Ship Creek ('yes', "Ship Creek"!) and made our way downtown on-foot, passing a family event day hosted by the Alaska Railway.

We called at two of the four Visitor Information Centres....obviously a burgeoning industry!...but gleaned very little of practical benefit from the very nice people there!! Accordingly, we retreated to a small cafe for coffee and planning and were amazed to find that Bill and Hillary Clinton had dined there (on reindeer stew!!) whilst he was President....and there was a letter from Bill to prove it!! Next we stopped to join a number of locals in an al fresco reindeer sausage hot dog!(I really couldn't make this stuff up!)

After this,, we took a long and welcome trek along the scenic coastal trail, spotting migrating brown cranes and the famous stature of 'Captain Cook' (who charted this area) on the way.

Checking-in late afternoon, we dumped the bags and set off to dine on halibut burgers and real ale! Anchorage is a great place to be and there's really only one song that sums it up......