We weren't a big fan of Anchorage in 2009 when we were here
after a Inside Passage cruise. My
opinion has greatly changed. Many one
way streets in the downtown area, but the large area surrounding downtown is
spread apart and easy to get around.
Many malls and big box stores. Of
course, we had to go downtown to see the "touristy" shops and the
Saturday Market and Crafts fair. The Ulu
Knife Factory is very close so we took a drive to see it and "tour the
factory". Store with about 6
windows for viewing the process of making the Alaskan favorite Ulu knife. In 2009 I think I packed away 9 of them for
gifts. Randy thought I was Ulu
crazy. I said this should be an Ulu free
vacation, until I realized the kids were not settled in any location or still
at home in 2009. I hadn't gotten them an
Ulu knife! So off to the store to
purchase 4 Ulu knives for our kids. The
motorhome, luckily, had a bit more room to store them, unlike my suitcase did
in 2009.
Very interesting to
see the Fur Trader places. Kind of like
a Pawn Shop of the SouthWest. People
bring in their pelts or mounts and family heirlooms to "store" and if
they don't pick them up in a designated amount of time or pay the storage fees,
they get put up for sale. C ould have
bought a Beaver pelt for about $50. Or moose antlers for $75. I tried to convince Randy we could mount them
on the front of the motorhome. No
go!! This, of course, is an alive and kicking Moose. Hopefully to remain that way.
The Native Heritage Center in Anchorage is a must see. They have a guided tour of the 7 Inuit
(Native Alaskans "Eskimos" - although they don't like that term
anymore) original dwellings and the main subsistance living they survived
on. Inside are Native crafters selling
their wares, historic artifacts, displays, and demonstrations of their First
Nation Olympics. Totally different
sports, all dealing with their way of surviving and skills. High kick from sitting, 1 leg kick with
landing on the other leg, etc.
The village of Talkeetna is very interesting. It has grown a lot since 2009 with little trinket shops and touristy business'. They used to have a "moose drop" in July. Buy a chip and place it in a very large bulls eye on the ground, fly over drop of moose poop and whom ever chip the poop covers, wins. They have cancelled the event :>((
I just love all the flowers in all the towns in Alaska. They really put on a flower show in each area that is beautiful. But my favorite is the Fireweed that grows wild on the side of the roads. It is a beautiful purple flower. In the end of the season the purple flowers fall off and the multiple stems for each flower turns bright red (hence the name: Fireweed) When they Fireweed turns red, the locals know that there is only 6 weeks left before winter starts rearing it's ugly head. We are getting out of town way before that starts.
Made a overnight stop in Wasilla Walmart. Went to the Iditarod home base and got to ride on an Iditarod dog pulled wagon. The son of the originator of the Iditarod, was our musher. He and now his son have been in the race many times. It was a highlight of my trip to take that ride!
Took a day trip down Turnagain Arm, A beautiful drive south of Anchorage along the water and mountains. Saw many dall sheep on the hillside and they were very interested in the people starring up at them. We went to the ski area of Alyeska and went to the top on the ski lift/tram. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and not the distance view we had hoped but still very impressive. Looking at the snow capped mountains and all the way down to the water in Turnagain Arm. We don't have runs like this in Wisconsin. Supposedly there are bears roaming around the mountain, in the lower areas but we saw none. They seem to be avoiding up, which is good up close, but from the safety of the ski lift I was really hoping...... We will keep looking!
Another stop we made as Whittier. A small fishing village in the mountain but you have to drive through a long tunnel that actually goes under the river, to get to the village. This tunnel can fit cars, large RV's, and is even shared with a train. It was an awesome drive and we could see the glaciers in the distance. Unfortunately, it was a rainy and very cloudy day so our views in Whittier were not too spectacular. Still a great town with a few shops, tons of ships, and views (when it isn't so cloudy).
On our way back to Anchorage we stopped at a few places along the road. Loved the business called Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ restaurant - play on words. We also stopped at a chainsaw carving business, as there were many full size statues carved in the yard. I recognized one of the artists names - Jordan Anderson on a few of the carvings. We had met Jordan in Albequerque New Mexico at the balloon rally and had asked him to chainsaw carve us a small 2 foot beaver for our motorhome. Unfortunately, during all the chainsaw contest days someone stole his truck and equipment inside. So he did not have time or the tools to do our beaver. Walking around - we run into Jordan carving in the front yard. Small world!!
We did have a sunny day and took a short drive down the first 15 miles of Turnagain Arm to get a few more pictures and look for Beluga Whales. Pictures obtaine - no whales. The beauty of the mountains, water, and area is just breath taking.
During our time in Anchorage we stayed in the RV lot of Cabela's - They allow free camping in a side parking lot for 2 days. They have a dump station and wonderful flat paved area. Because we had to take the RV in for welding, we spent our 2 nights on and 1 day off. So we returned for another day after the welding experience. The welds on the motorcycle lift were quickly repaired in Tok but it needed a "beef up" and further welding to make us feel safe in continuing our journey. Found a great business that would do exactly what Randy wanted done. Problem was when we got there they had the "newbie" assigned to our simple job. 2 1/2 hrs he was done ..... but then it took another 5 hours to correct errors. It wasn't a fun day and very stressful. The owner only charged us for the 2 1/2 hours of labor - nice, honest guy made it less of a nightmare. The roads really are not as "great" as they say - at least not in a 43 foot vehicle. If we drove all these miles in a car, SUV, or small RV it probably wouldn't have been so bad but our home on wheels it was bad.
We weren't a big fan of Anchorage in 2009 when we were here
after a Inside Passage cruise. My
opinion has greatly changed. Many one
way streets in the downtown area, but the large area surrounding downtown is
spread apart and easy to get around.
Many malls and big box stores. Of
course, we had to go downtown to see the "touristy" shops and the
Saturday Market and Crafts fair. The Ulu
Knife Factory is very close so we took a drive to see it and "tour the
factory". Store with about 6
windows for viewing the process of making the Alaskan favorite Ulu knife. In 2009 I think I packed away 9 of them for
gifts. Randy thought I was Ulu
crazy. I said this should be an Ulu free
vacation, until I realized the kids were not settled in any location or still
at home in 2009. I hadn't gotten them an
Ulu knife! So off to the store to
purchase 4 Ulu knives for our kids. The
motorhome, luckily, had a bit more room to store them, unlike my suitcase did
in 2009. 
The Native Heritage Center in Anchorage is a must see. They have a guided tour of the 7 Inuit
(Native Alaskans "Eskimos" - although they don't like that term
anymore) original dwellings and the main subsistance living they survived
on. Inside are Native crafters selling
their wares, historic artifacts, displays, and demonstrations of their First
Nation Olympics. Totally different
sports, all dealing with their way of surviving and skills. High kick from sitting, 1 leg kick with
landing on the other leg, etc.
The village of Talkeetna is very interesting. It has grown a lot since 2009 with little trinket shops and touristy business'. They used to have a "moose drop" in July. Buy a chip and place it in a very large bulls eye on the ground, fly over drop of moose poop and whom ever chip the poop covers, wins. They have cancelled the event :>(( 
I just love all the flowers in all the towns in Alaska. They really put on a flower show in each area that is beautiful. But my favorite is the Fireweed that grows wild on the side of the roads. It is a beautiful purple flower. In the end of the season the purple flowers fall off and the multiple stems for each flower turns bright red (hence the name: Fireweed) When they Fireweed turns red, the locals know that there is only 6 weeks left before winter starts rearing it's ugly head. We are getting out of town way before that starts.
Made a overnight stop in Wasilla Walmart. Went to the Iditarod home base and got to ride on an Iditarod dog pulled wagon. The son of the originator of the Iditarod, was our musher. He and now his son have been in the race many times. It was a highlight of my trip to take that ride!
Took a day trip down Turnagain Arm, A beautiful drive south of Anchorage along the water and mountains. Saw many dall sheep on the hillside and they were very interested in the people starring up at them. We went to the ski area of Alyeska and went to the top on the ski lift/tram. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and not the distance view we had hoped but still very impressive. Looking at the snow capped mountains and all the way down to the water in Turnagain Arm. We don't have runs like this in Wisconsin. Supposedly there are bears roaming around the mountain, in the lower areas but we saw none. They seem to be avoiding up, which is good up close, but from the safety of the ski lift I was really hoping...... We will keep looking!
Another stop we made as Whittier. A small fishing village in the mountain but you have to drive through a long tunnel that actually goes under the river, to get to the village. This tunnel can fit cars, large RV's, and is even shared with a train. It was an awesome drive and we could see the glaciers in the distance. Unfortunately, it was a rainy and very cloudy day so our views in Whittier were not too spectacular. Still a great town with a few shops, tons of ships, and views (when it isn't so cloudy).
On our way back to Anchorage we stopped at a few places along the road. Loved the business called Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ restaurant - play on words. We also stopped at a chainsaw carving business, as there were many full size statues carved in the yard. I recognized one of the artists names - Jordan Anderson on a few of the carvings. We had met Jordan in Albequerque New Mexico at the balloon rally and had asked him to chainsaw carve us a small 2 foot beaver for our motorhome. Unfortunately, during all the chainsaw contest days someone stole his truck and equipment inside. So he did not have time or the tools to do our beaver. Walking around - we run into Jordan carving in the front yard. Small world!!
We did have a sunny day and took a short drive down the first 15 miles of Turnagain Arm to get a few more pictures and look for Beluga Whales. Pictures obtaine - no whales. The beauty of the mountains, water, and area is just breath taking. 
During our time in Anchorage we stayed in the RV lot of Cabela's - They allow free camping in a side parking lot for 2 days. They have a dump station and wonderful flat paved area. Because we had to take the RV in for welding, we spent our 2 nights on and 1 day off. So we returned for another day after the welding experience. The welds on the motorcycle lift were quickly repaired in Tok but it needed a "beef up" and further welding to make us feel safe in continuing our journey. Found a great business that would do exactly what Randy wanted done. Problem was when we got there they had the "newbie" assigned to our simple job. 2 1/2 hrs he was done ..... but then it took another 5 hours to correct errors. It wasn't a fun day and very stressful. The owner only charged us for the 2 1/2 hours of labor - nice, honest guy made it less of a nightmare. The roads really are not as "great" as they say - at least not in a 43 foot vehicle. If we drove all these miles in a car, SUV, or small RV it probably wouldn't have been so bad but our home on wheels it was bad.
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