After we sent off Joyce's family at the Anchorage International Airport, we rented a car and moved to an Airbnb. It was a studio apartment, but good enough for our three-day stay. It was close to the airport and also to a lake. The neighborhood was quiet and walkable.
We visited Anchorage Downtown Market that was open only over the weekends. The scale was very small and disappointing.
The city welcomed tourists; it was the second-largest economic contributor to the state economy. The entire state of Alaska has a population of less than 800,000, while the largest city, Anchorage, has a little less than 300,000.
Apparently, the Anchorage City used to run an interesting Visitor Information Center built with logs. But it was closed when we visited.
Kristin visited a souvenir store, a pretty large one, and found several things of interest.
The city was well decorated with hanging flower pots along the streetlight poles.
Dog-sledding is one of the pastimes for the Anchorage people. There was a
Mushing District. Mushing is a sport or method of transportation where one or more dogs pull a vehicle, sled, or person over snow or dry land. We tried a dog-sledding ride in California, and disliked the agony that the dogs went through while pulling the sled.
We stopped by another souvenir store. To me, I saw only socks.
We entered a
Federal Land Building, where we watched a film about people who had been living in Anchorage over the centuries. It was moving and quite informative.
I saw
a statue of Captain James Cook in the Resolutions Park. The view from the statue was panoramic.
We did not have time to visit
Alaska's Statehood Monument. Alaska became the 49th state in 1959, almost a century after the purchase of Alaska from Russia.
One day, we planned to visit the
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It was about an hour's drive away from the City. On the way, we passed through the
Turnagain Arm Drive, a beautiful scenic drive. Also, we saw a train that carried tourists with a view.
We walked around the center and saw many animals such as bears, foxes, bison, muskoxen, eagles, deer, porcupines, and caribou. We missed the moose.
The scenery was beautiful and tranquil.
On Sunday, after we worshipped, we visited Anchorage Museum. We learned about the indigenous tribes, their cultures, clothes, and hunting skills. Also, we found many paintings and photos of Alaska, which were quite inspiring.
One map was quite interesting to me. It was drawn from the perspective of the North Pole. In this map, Alaska's geopolitical and maritime shipping position was critically important.
On the last day, right before we left Anchorage, we visited the
Alaska Native Heritage Center. The day we visited this center was the first day of its off-season operations. So there were no activities or programs, and there was no entrance fee. They collected donations, however, and we were able to walk around to watch films and look at various structures.
At the Anchorage International Airport, we found a statue of a moose, which we missed at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
With that, we had to bid farewell to Anchorage and Alaska. Probably we will return, Lord willing. Stay natural and beautiful, Alaska! - Jeffrey
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