Hampton Inn Anchorage

... how huge the eruption was! The place reminded me of the landscapes generated by the eruptions of Mont St Helens in 1980 in the U.S. and Mount Pinatubo in 1991 in the Philippines.

Such a place built by a recent volcanic eruption reminds us that our planet is not dead. More large-scale eruptions are likely to occur in Katmai or elsewhere in the world. There were no casualties during the 1912 ...

Took the train from Talkeetna to Anchorage yesterday...another nice ride. We saw a moose as we crossed through the grounds of Elmendorf Air Force Base. It was dark and rainy so no pictures of him.

I am now sitting at the Anchorage airport waiting for my flight home. It will be a little more pleasant as for an extra 10k frequent flier miles I was able to get first class seats for the return trip. That will be nice on a red eye ...

... full so we met them at the Snow Goose which was great. We had outdoor seating with a view of Mt McKinley.

Perfect!

The next day we just bummed around for a bit and went for a walk. We flew out at 20:30 to Denver going via Dallas. We missed our connection by minutes as the plane was still at the dock but made the next flight which was 2 hours later giving us time for breakfast. We arrived into Denver at 09:30 pretty tired!

... wait in line. We got a full size car, an Impala, and it did have a large trunk and comfy seats and served us well. Over the course of the trip we logged 1344 miles!

Our hotel for the first night was the Anchorage Embassy Suites and it was very nice. The hotel was walking distance from a Fred Meyers and a 24hr. Safeway. Both supermarkets had excellent deals on souvenirs, particularly the $3.00 Alaska socks at Safeway ...

The last night at Alaska. No specific schedule, just shopping, and easy short drive to the berry farm to see the chocolate fountain. Our flight was like 1:28 a.m., so we got to the airport around 10 p.m. Finally, the night fell. I was so glad to see the night. My eyes felt comfortable. No wonder we all felt sore for the eyes, the sun's been shining all day long!

... the mountains. Anyway, on the way down the mountain, I came across a very unusual site, at least for me. Two dogs were circling around and barking at a moose. The moose was charging at the dogs in an effort to deliver a stomping. It reminded me of what it must be like for the moose when the wolves attack. I thought to myself, I must stop and get a photo of this. I pulled over and grabbed my camera, jumped out of the car and ...

We had a very short drive today. Originally we were just going to stay in Wasilla for the whole time, but with the price of gas, $4.44 in Anchorage, we thought we should move closer to where we would be exploring. The drive was a mere 40 miles. We were set up quickly and soon we were out and about in Anchorage. It has been so long since we have been in a large city. It was unusual to have to worry about traffic and traffic lights. Our first stop ...

Today was one of those long travel days where very little happened. I guess that it good, being that nothing happened to the truck or the RV. We left Valdez today. Whenever our second trip to Alaska occurs we will come back to Valdez and do some of the many trails around the area. This was my main disappointment - not doing so many trails in the area. We road back though some of the best scenic areas of the trip - through Keystone Canyon ...

... bumped the alarm "on" button. After fumbling with it for a minute or two I got it shut off and we both fell back to sleep. At 6:30am I heard Pat making coffee and obviously making enough noise to wake me up. A short time later I looked at my watch and discovered that I must have inadvertently advanced the clock an hour when I fumbled with the alarm and it was actually 5:30am! This was much earlier than we needed to arise but it gave us both ...