Anchorage Air Museum was our first port of call today, a small but well put together place ( bit like me) showing the history of flight in Alaska. Some very interesting stories and people, especially the fact that so many of the pioneer pilots were women. Looking at some of the planes here, with their flimsy construction, and knowing the extreme weather conditions that are an integral part of Alaska, the early pilots, who often flew with no maps or weather forecasts, were braver than your own Captain Cautious.
Anchorage has the world’s largest float plane port, with over 800 take offs and landings daily, so we had to go for a flight in one.
For half an hour we wandered at an altitude of about 2000 ft, over west Anchorage, then over Knik Arm to the undeveloped east side of the waterway, where there are forests, mountains, marshes and farms. Yes, farms.
There was a pilot scheme some years ago to develop all this nearby wilderness into dairy farms, and for various reasons, most of the initial start up farms went belly up within a couple of years, their farms grabbed by bigger organizations, and lots of political scandal abounded.
Today the farmers raise bison, elk, cattle and vegetables that are hardy enough for the area, but it was fascinating to fly over tundra and swamp, and then come across some big farms.
The flight itself was uneventful, the pilot, whom we christened Mr. Personality, was more boringer than a tape recording.
Afterwards we had a surprisingly good fish and chip lunch ( yes, again) at a Red Robin establishment, and went to a Wednesday Market. This, according to the brochure we had found, was supposed to be a happening event with lots of fantastic booths, and stuff to buy. There were 10 booths, all selling organic foods, and 1 booth selling jewelry. So we stood around for a bit, watching the planes land at the local airport, and then left.
In the evening, we had dinner at The Glacier Brewhouse, a downtown brewery and eatery. You will be glad to know that your intrepid Captain’s quest for the perfect beer has only been on hold for a few days, and it kicked back into gear with a vengeance when I was forced to try The Sampler, 5 ales brewed right there. The quality was good to fair on all the ales, but the value for money was excellent, the five samples being nearly ½ pint each, and the total cost was $ 4.50.
We then walked, at around 11.30, to Captain Cooke’s monument, where we watched the most glorious sunset, across The Knik Arm, and the sky was so clear we could just see the tip of Mount McKinley in the far distance, 131 miles away.
A very pleasant, relaxing day.
Wildlife watch today was elk, bison, moose, all from the plane, and noisy magpies on the coach roof at 5 in the morning!!
