Anchorage
Tom and I took it easy for the next few days after our initial hectic two days - day trip on the Alaskan Rail's Chugach Express to view Grandview and the unforgettable day trip on board the Klondike Express catamaran for the 26 Glaciers Cruise into Prince William Sound.
We rented a car and leisurely checked out places of interest in Anchorage and the surrounding areas. We even drove to Wasilla, home town of Governor Sarah Palin and saw her house on the lake from the road. We agreed that Wasilla rather than Anchorage would be a superior place to live in were we relocating to Alaska.
Lake Hood Seaplane Base
You have to see it to believe it! Lake Hood is the largest and busiest seaplane base in the world. You will appreciate just how rugged and inaccessible Alaska is when you are here. There is a non-stop convey of seaplanes taking off and touching down in an endless loop. We lost count of the number of planes we saw in the short time we were there!!!
Downtown Anchorage
It is a walking city, beautifully laid out in a grid with beautiful greenery and flowers everywhere. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe after our train ride to Grandview. We went to see the Aurora documentary and wished we could have seen the phenomena in person as it was very surreal. Unfortunately, you need to be much further north and preferably be in winter.
Polar Bear & Kodiak Brown Bear
We checked out the wildlife exhibits at the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. Click below link to see a polar bear standing on its hind legs and a huge Kodiak brown bear, the largest of the species.
Male & Female Black Bears
We finally saw our bears at the end of the week in Alaska en route to Whittier to board our cruise ship. The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center was located against a backdrop of mountains.
Black Bears - Kuma & UT
We were lucky to see Kuma & UT up and about. These 2 black bears were found in the wild as cubs when their mother was
killed. They are only teenagers but look menacing enough especially Kuma which is a male.
Moose & Reindeer
We also saw 2 moose and a herd of reindeer. One of the moose was just lying down resting the whole time we were there while the other one kept chomping down the shrubs. One of the reindeer had huge molting antlers.