Alaska – Denali to Anchorage

After being in Denali for 3 days it was time to start back to Anchorage.  We woke up to a rainy day and it rained gently all day. Since we were going to be on the bus most of the day, it was really quite enjoyable to see the rain. 

We had a quick breakfast on our own then we were on the bus at 7:30. 

Shortly after setting out Andrew saw a couple of cars pulled over and knew that usually meant an animal of some sort. Sure enough, a moose was walking alongside the highway.  

We continued on to Palmer where we stopped for lunch. 

After lunch we had a couple of hours to walk around Palmer.  I don’t think there is really anything special about Palmer, it was just a good place to have lunch. 

Palmer is the 9^th largest city in Alaska (pop. 7,400).  The Alaska State Fair is held here and it’s about 40 miles from Anchorage.

We all had lunch together then walked down to the visitor center.  There were some beautiful gardens to walk through.  They had several displays about the enormous vegetables that are grown in Alaska during the summer. Twenty-plus hours of sunshine makes a difference! The rain had let up and it was very pleasant.

Click to enlarge.

We walked around the museum/visitor center for a while.

We were back on the bus by 2:00.  Since there were only 17 people on our trip, we each could have our own seat, if we wanted.

We were in Anchorage by 2:30 and drove straight to the Anchorage Native Heritage Center. 

We had a little time to walk around before the demonstration started.  There were some folks set up with tables with hand made items for sale.  There were very nice displays. 

A very talented group of young people entertained us. 

We got back to the hotel (Hilton) about 4:30. That is when the trouble started.  

Annie started handing out room keys and breakfast vouchers.  She discovered that she had given the wrong keys to a couple and while we were waiting for that couple to come back down to the lobby other people started coming back saying they didn’t have luggage in their room or they had someone else’s luggage, or it was a mixture of their luggage and someone else’s.

We didn’t have a room. Nor did we have any luggage.  When you travel with the kind of camera equipment we do, it is very worrisome when you are told that your luggage isn’t where it’s supposed to be.  We always have our binoculars and one camera and one or two lenses with us, but there is a whole suitcase full of other gear.

Annie soon figured out that her list of rooms was completely different from the list the front desk had given to the luggage handlers.  Besides us not having a room at all, another couple had two rooms.  We found the luggage handlers and they remembered our luggage and which room they had put them in. 

Annie eventually got everything straightened out, everyone met back up to walk to a restaurant for our final meal together.

We said goodbye to everyone and we were back in our room by 7:30 and ready to be finished with the day. We were feeling run-down and a little under the weather. We thought maybe it was from the smoky air that we'd been breathing. 

Next time:  The flight home, final thoughts, and souvenir magnets.