"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #8 Anchorage, Alaska July 10, 2017 Monday Partly cloudy & 64 degrees Part #1 Of 2 86 Pictures

Anchorage was our port of call for today, arriving and docking by 8am. The waters coming into the Cook Inlet are so muddy-looking, you would think you were sailing in the Amazon River. Brown and silty, just plain ugly. However, not all that long ago, large cruise ships could not access Anchorage by water. The stop would have been in Seward, where buses took the folks into Anchorage. Lying as far west as the Hawaiian Islands, Anchorage has a population of 291,826 people, the largest in the entire state. About half of Alaska's residents live in and around Anchorage. We would not call it a dazzling city, but it does boast that it is decorated with 100,000 hanging flower baskets, full of summer blooms. We saw at least half of them today. Beautiful.

Established in 1915, Anchorage was the construction headquarters for the Alaskan Railroad. Today, narrated sight-seeing tours leave from the train station. One of the main destinations has to be Denali tours. Major cruise lines have added a three to five day extended tour to see this famous national park. The rest of downtown looks like a regular city with high rise buildings providing south-central Alaska with a major business center and transportation hub.

Damaged by the 1964 earthquake, which occurred on Good Friday, it destroyed most of the downtown area. So what we see today is a fairly modern city.

Anchorage is also famous for being the starting point for the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race. It happens every first Saturday in the month of March. Originally around 1100 miles, it was changed to 1049 miles to represent that fact that Alaska is the 49^th state to be brought into the Union.

Some interesting facts we discovered by reading local tourist information pamphlets, are that Alaska is big in square miles. It would take 2 states of Texas, 4 states of California, or 470 states of Rhode Island to make 1 Alaska. Animals that can found in the city and the surrounds are 1500 moose, 150 beavers, 1200 Dall sheep, 250 black bears, 60 brown bears, 7 types of owls, as well as eagles, salmon, and beluga whales. There are 60 glaciers within a day's travel. That is probably why we are seeing such silt built up in Cook's inlet.

One fact we like is that there is no statewide sales tax in Anchorage. That kind of came as a surprise, since the previous ports we visited did have a city or borough tax levied up to 7%. In Ketchikan, there was even a small kitchen tax applied to our restaurant bill. That was creative.

There were many ship tours offered today, of course. There were two glacier exploration trips from 5 ¾ hours to 11 hours, costing from $110 to $300. Flight tours included 4 planes to see glaciers and mountains for 1 ¾ hours to 4 ½ hours. A bit more expensive, they ran from $150 to $520. Two train rides for 10 hours ran $220, while six adventure tours from 3 to 5 hours were more affordable at $50 to $170.

Lots of folks like us decided to jump on the complimentary shuttle that went to the center of downtown. Guests are not permitted to walk through the port area, so this is mandatory if you want to get to town. Since the ship was docked until 10:30pm, the shuttle ran until 9pm. We feel it is always best to wait until most of the tours are dispatched to go off to town. Even after 10am, the line was long for the bus. The good thing was that there were several buses running this morning.

Don't ask us why, but we are magnets for passengers under the weather. If someone is coughing or sneezing, they will inevitably sit near us. That happened this morning, when a sick lady took the seat in front of us, and proceeded to cough deeply all the way to town. It was a short ride, but we tried to hold our breath all the way to downtown. All the rest of the people around her were doing the same thing. Sorry to see people get sick, but they should not be leaving the ship in that condition. But what do we know? Good thing we had plenty of hand sanitizer with us. This was one reminder of why we choose not to take tours anymore. The buses can be a petri dish.

We had the ship's map with us, but as always, the local info center provided much better ones. It has been seven years since we were her, so it took time to get our bearings. Locating the second info center was easy. There they had much more interesting pamphlets and magazines to fill in things we did not know about the city and area surrounding it.

The first place we wanted to explore was the creek we had crossed on the way to top. That was Ship Creek where we remembered a river full of hopeful anglers trying to catch salmon. There were a scattering of fishermen today, and some gals too. Seems that it is the end of the king salmon run, and soon the silvers will start to arrive. Going downhill all the way, we located the trail that follows Ship Creek. Must be a popular spot for bikers and Segway riders, as we saw several of them.

We passed by the Alaska Railroad Depot, where sight-seeing trains run from here to Denali, Fairbanks, and Seward. Across from here was the original Ulu Factory, where we purchased an Alaskan ulu (chopping knife) and a wooden cutting board. It is one of those souvenirs that it actually used in our kitchen often. The walking trail can be accessed here. Following the banks, we ended up at the salmon viewing bridge and the dam below. Looking in the deepest part of the river, we could see several 3 foot long king salmon waiting to go upstream. They are at the end of their life cycle, and can look pretty beat up at this point. Once they get upstream, they will spawn, and eventually die. Their cycle is complete. We did not know it, but the largest salmon ever caught in Alaska weighed in at 97 pounds. And the longest salmon run in the world is a 2000 mile journey up the Yukon River.

Other fish caught here are arctic char, grayling, trout, cod, and rockfish. Deep sea fishing is reserved for the halibut, the largest caught – 459 pounds. The temperature of the waters is 37 degrees F. There were signs everywhere in the river that snagging is forbidden. But that was what the local guys were doing. These fish seldom take the bait, because they have been programed to stop eating once they begin their run up the creek.

What we found interesting was the fact that low tide had brought the river down to shallow and narrow. The tide fluctuates 30 to 33 feet here, creating huge mudflats. In fact, there was a flyer in the log cabin visitor center explaining the dangers of the mudflats. It warns that these mudflats are like quicksand. Lives have been lost where people get stuck in the mud while fishing, and have drowned when the tide came in suddenly. It would have an effect with the ship as well.

The only birds we spotted here were sea gulls, ravens, ducks, and some magpie birds. No eagles were to be seen today.

Making our way back to downtown, we stopped in some shops, but found they were crowded with lots of people. What we did notice was that there were few sales here, like in the first cities. And what we did see, the prices were higher for most of the souvenirs we saw previously.

A big surprise was finding a Hard Rock Café in the town's center. This was not here in 2010. Of course we had to go in to buy a city t-shirt. These, oddly enough, were cheaper than the last one we got in SF. And better yet, there was no sales tax.

It was nearing 1pm, and the restaurant was filling up quickly. We decided to get a high top table for two, and ordered some lunch. Good move, since in minutes the lobby was full of folks waiting in line for a table. The cute waitress told us they opened this HRC three years ago. For some strange reason, it was not listed in the AAA booklet. The food was great, even though we had to wait a while to get it. Since the ship doesn't leave until 11pm, we were in no hurry to go back. It is possible that to work here, you must have tattoos, or pink, blue, or purple hair. Every waitress had one or more of these requirements.

After lunch, we checked out some stores and more restaurants before going to Delany Park Strip. This used to be the original runway for an airport. Now there is a Centennial Rose Garden, various monuments, tennis and basketball courts. We heard that sometimes moose wander down into these parks, but not today.

We just realized that the usual high end jewelry stores were not here. Lots of souvenir places and fur boutiques, but no chain variety jewels. What they do have is a real mall with the typical large department store anchors. And there is no lack of sporting good shops for sturdy clothing.

Heading back to the bus pick-up, we waited in a very long line. Good thing a second bus arrived, because we jumped in that line and boarded that bus quicker. By the way, these buses are really nice. Built for comfort and very spacious, the ride was comfortable for the short distance. Our driver explained that few cruise ships come into the container port. When they do dock here, the bus drivers have a strict speed limit. We swear it must be 5 MPH.

When we arrived at the ship, we noticed the gangway had been moved from deck two to deck three. The tide had gone out the maximum, and it looked like the ship was in the mud….literally. We had to climb some stairs, and enter the ship by ducking under a lifeboat. Then it was back down to the deck. Back in our room, we could see the pillars of the dock….underneath the road. Incredible.

Using the rest of the afternoon to work on photos and notes, we went back outside to get some shots of the mudflats. There would be no sail away this evening, since we were supposed to leave by 11pm.

Our waiters were not there tonight. They must have earned some points, and got off the ship for an extended time, missing the dinner service. So with new waiters, the service was slower. Good thing there were only five of present. Bob had gone into town to visit relatives, so he never came to the table. The other fellow appeared last night we heard, but was MIA tonight.

None of us had taken organized tours today, so it was fun comparing notes. One of our tablemates had ordered Indian food, not from the guest menu, but from the crew menu. This was ordered the evening before, but it seems that it slowed down the meal, as the food was not ready on time. Dave had ordered from the vegetarian menu, but doubted he got his jambalaya he had come to know and love two years ago. Our meals were fine……eggplant parmigiana and rack of lamb. We had asked for a few onions rings on the side, but our waiter brought a large plateful. We shared with everyone.

There was an 11pm Indonesian Show tonight. Since we saw it on the world cruise, we passed on this one. It had been a long day with an equally long walk. Have to admit we were tired tonight. And since tomorrow's port is Homer, we turned in after dinner.

Bill & Mary Ann

Buses lined up for tours & shuttle service