After a great night's sleep in a very comfy bed and a hearty helping of the complimentary hot breakfast we were all set to explore some of Anchorage.
We started out doing a walk along the coastal track towards Earthquake Park, which commemorates the 1964 earthquake that caused a lot of damage here abouts. Along the way we read a notice board about how to tell the difference between a "curious moose" and an "angry moose" - with the matching advice that you can safely continue to watch the former but retreat quickly from the latter! It was a pleasant view along the walk - with ice in the bay and snow covered mountains in the distance - but we eventually decided to bail on the idea of walking all the way to Earthquake Park. Partly because the scale of the map made it evident that it was still a long way and we'd have to retrace our steps to continue with our plans for the day.
So instead we walked back toward the main thoroughfare - C Street - to catch a bus to our next destination. Along the way we saw a moose and her calf grazing on the branches of the leafless birch trees in the grounds of a pre-school, so we wandered in to get a closer look. The staff at the pre-school were most concerned that we did not come between the mother and her calf on the way back out so they invited us to detour through the (otherwise empty) school buildings. (We never did find out why they were at work when there were no children - on a weekday).
We managed a good bus connection down to the Dimond Mall in south Anchorage where the Native Craft Market was on its last day. The markets had been running for about a week, with native artisans from remote settlements all over Alaska having stalls set up in the aisles of the mall. The range of crafts on display was both extensive and impressive, including carving, painting, fur products and wood works. All hand crafted, no mass produced works in sight.
After a late lunch we bused back to the Sears Mall in mid town where there was an amateur photo exhibition on display. Given my interest in such things it was very nice of Sam to have noticed it was on and put off going until I had joined them in Anchorage. There were a number of categories, with the basic requirement that all photos had to be taken in Alaska since the start of 2013. There were some very good images on display, but as usual we didn't necessarily all agree on the judge's choices for the various category winners.
Thereafter we made it back to out hotel just in time for the 6:00pm "Meet and Greet" with the two Iditarod contestants who were sponsored by Clarion Suites - the husband and wife pair of Aliy Zirkle
(runner-up in the last two Iditarods) and Allan Moore (a dual winner of the Yukon Quest). It was an interesting meeting as they both explained the equipment, training and tactics required to win these long distant sled races and told some funny stories about their experiences. They also brought in some of their dogs for us to meet. And just to cap off the evening, when it came time to raffle the door prizes Sam won a framed poster from the 2013 race autographed by Aliy. Top stuff!
With the day's activities accounted for, the four of us enjoyed a game of Settlers of Catan before bed time - which was won by Sam. Again!
We started out doing a walk along the coastal track towards Earthquake Park, which commemorates the 1964 earthquake that caused a lot of damage here abouts. Along the way we read a notice board about how to tell the difference between a "curious moose" and an "angry moose" - with the matching advice that you can safely continue to watch the former but retreat quickly from the latter! It was a pleasant view along the walk - with ice in the bay and snow covered mountains in the distance - but we eventually decided to bail on the idea of walking all the way to Earthquake Park. Partly because the scale of the map made it evident that it was still a long way and we'd have to retrace our steps to continue with our plans for the day.
So instead we walked back toward the main thoroughfare - C Street - to catch a bus to our next destination. Along the way we saw a moose and her calf grazing on the branches of the leafless birch trees in the grounds of a pre-school, so we wandered in to get a closer look. The staff at the pre-school were most concerned that we did not come between the mother and her calf on the way back out so they invited us to detour through the (otherwise empty) school buildings. (We never did find out why they were at work when there were no children - on a weekday).
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| Moose grazing |
We managed a good bus connection down to the Dimond Mall in south Anchorage where the Native Craft Market was on its last day. The markets had been running for about a week, with native artisans from remote settlements all over Alaska having stalls set up in the aisles of the mall. The range of crafts on display was both extensive and impressive, including carving, painting, fur products and wood works. All hand crafted, no mass produced works in sight.
After a late lunch we bused back to the Sears Mall in mid town where there was an amateur photo exhibition on display. Given my interest in such things it was very nice of Sam to have noticed it was on and put off going until I had joined them in Anchorage. There were a number of categories, with the basic requirement that all photos had to be taken in Alaska since the start of 2013. There were some very good images on display, but as usual we didn't necessarily all agree on the judge's choices for the various category winners.
Thereafter we made it back to out hotel just in time for the 6:00pm "Meet and Greet" with the two Iditarod contestants who were sponsored by Clarion Suites - the husband and wife pair of Aliy Zirkle
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| Aliy Zirkle with insulated water container |
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| Aliy's sled packed with equipment |
With the day's activities accounted for, the four of us enjoyed a game of Settlers of Catan before bed time - which was won by Sam. Again!
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