Today we woke up around 6:45, greatly appreciating eight or nine solid hours of sleep instead of four! After a good breakfast (English muffin with wild Alaska honey, blueberry muffin, fresh fruit, cranberry juice) and getting our stuff in order, we headed to the Alaska Experience Theater to watch the Earthquake feature. It's a short, informative show on the Good Friday 1964 earthquake that was just unimaginably powerful. It's hard to believe how much our planet can shift! Next we walked to the Alaska Law Enforcement Museum, a free spot housing lots of great information and artifacts from the history of policing in Alaska. A highlight is the restored 1952 Hudson Hornet patrol car (yes, like "Doc" Hudson in Cars!). We also went to the Alaska Veterans Museum, another small non-profit (admission is $3) with information, photos, and items recognizing Alaska's involvement in military history. The 1:72 scale model of a WWII-era aircraft carrier is especially impressive.
Following the "morning of museums," we went to the Anchorage Museum for the afternoon. Prior to entering it, though, we ran into the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall to go to the bathroom and get a little pistachio and vanilla frozen yogurt, topped with blueberries and cookie dough, to go with our lunch (a banana bagel with peanut butter, carrots, an orange, water). The museum is the premier one in the whole state of Alaska, covering thousands upon thousands of square feet...and currently undergoing construction to expand it yet again! Spread throughout the four floors are Alaskan art galleries, over 10,000 years of history, a discovery center, and much more. It could be considered information overload at times; there's just SO much to see and read!
After spending our afternoon in there, we went to the Brown Bag Sandwich Company to get supper in said brown bags to-go. It was only about 4:30, so we decided to drive down to the Hilltop Ski Area, the Anchorage community hill. Its charming one chairlift, two surface lifts, 290 vertical feet, and handful of runs made me think about Hidden Valley, my home hill. We met a summer operations manager, Rick, who was SUPER kind and unlocked the lodge so I could go in to get a trail map and brochure for my brother. He also took us all the way up the mountain in his utility vehicle just so I could take pictures of the amazing views! It was cloudy, so we couldn't see Mt. McKinley, but if it's a clear day, you can. What ended up being a quick "picture stop" turned out to be an incredible adventure!
Finally, after a wonderful second day in Anchorage, we headed back to our B&B to eat our brown bag suppers (I had the Day After Thanksgiving sandwich, multigrain bread loaded with turkey, Havarti cheese, and cranberry relish; chips; a pickle; chocolate chip cookie; and water). Now it's time for another day to end so tomorrow can come with more exciting adventures! Blessings to you all...and if you are friends with me on Facebook, you can see more pictures and videos from yesterday, today, and the coming days as I add them to my album.
The 1952 Hudson Hornet patrol car at the Alaska Law Enforcement Museum
The view out of the fourth floor of the Anchorage Museum
Hilltop Ski Area
~Anna
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