Anchorage

Friday, June 10, 2016

The drive to Anchorage, a city of 300,000 was as beautiful as all the others before it.  We were accompanied by the Alaska Range on both the East and West side for most of the 6 hour drive. We can see why they refer to this road as one of Alaska’s Scenic Byways.

   Notice the road condition.....

East side of the road

West side of the road

We encountered a couple of surprises.  The first was a huge Moose bull just hanging out on the side of the road.  Since traffic was heavy, we could not stop in time to capture it; (too bad).  

Second surprise (NOT!), was another construction site.  Luckily it was only 4 miles affected.

 

The third surprise was the ever eluding famous mountain.  You know, the one that only 30% of visitors to Denali National Park get to see.  Well, at about 80 miles south on Highway 1; also known as Park Highway, the dome began to show, towering and bright and shiny with ice, above all others!  Thanks to the sunny, clear day, we managed to see the entire south side of the tallest mountain in North America (20,310 ft).  Enjoy!!!!

DENALI (formerly Mt. McKinley) from the North

also from the North

Denali Southern View

After a quick stop for lunch on one of the many pull-outs on the road, we arrived at Anchorage at 2pm.  It was interesting to arrive and drive through the Mat-Su valley.  Made famous by many of the Alaska State Troopers show. 

The RV Park we had selected is right downtown.  It is not much of a park and certainly has no beauty, but it may be worth its price due to the proximity to many fun things close by.  The jury is still out on that one.

One of the many good things is the Chester Creek Greenbelt; a municipal park with awesome trails for both hiking and biking.  This is right across the road from us and have already taken a long walk after setting up camp.  We are looking forward to riding our bikes and explore this park and its many trails.