Day off in Anchorage

Day 34 Anchorage. No bike riding.

Bert, Tomoko, Janet and I drove the rental car into downtown Anchorage and had a great day being tourists. It was a perfectly warm, sunny day. We parked on the 6th floor of a parking structure, and immediately had a beautiful view of the snow-covered mountains to the west:

We started at the visitor center, which was in this log cabin and surrounded by beautiful flowers. Actually, all the colorful flowers, everywhere, were highlights of walking around today.

Right away we reserved our 5-hr glacier boat cruise tomorrow in Seward. Then, as we walked around, we passed many street vendors selling, among other dogs, reindeer sausages. We passed on Dasher and Rudolph.

The reason for all the people in this photo was the free daily noontime concert next to the old city hall. Fun. We had lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse, then spent a few hours at the large Anchorage Museum. Learning the history of this state and city was fascinating, from the natives and how they lived, to the 800-mile Prudhoe Bay oil pipeline built in 1975-78.

We then visited the federal visitor center and watched two 30-min videos about the gold rush of 1896-98, and the 1964 earthquake (magnitude 9.2). Finally, we drove to the west for a view back at the Anchorage skyline:

Tomorrow we will leave here by 8:00 am to be able to make our noon cruise in Seward, which is a 3 1/2 hour drive south. It will be another day off from biking for Bert and me! Oh no. Will we get rusty? The others in the motorhome drove into the city and toured by bike, riding 25 miles. Tomorrow they are not going on the cruise, and are planning to bike much of the distance from south of Anchorage to Seward. So, Bert and I will be completely out of shape compared to the others. I'm getting soooo worried...