I will admit that I didn’t really understand how far LA is from Anchorage until booking the flight. And even then it seemed likely to me that it couldn’t really be as far as LA is from NY or Hawaii. But it is. A 5 1/2 hour flight, and an hour time difference, brought me to the cool, cloudy and drizzly 49th state. Anchorage is the largest city, but not the capital, and 40% of Alaska’s residents live here. It is further north than Helsinki and it is as far west as Honolulu. In July there will be 17-19 hours of daylight! Plenty of time for a hike or two.
I am here with a woman I met on the Camino de Santiago 4 years ago — my Camino Boot Angel Kim — and will join a group tour led by REI on Monday. Until then, we are spending two nights at the Lakefront Hotel, which sits on Lake Hood, the busiest seaplane base in the world, with over 1,000 seaplane takeoffs and landings during the summer. I walked along the shore for a bit and found seaplanes pulled up as if to a driveway at one home, and others docked next to a shack offering tours to see bears or mountains. The hotel is also the official sponsor and home to the famous Iditarod races, and the walls have photos of various teams at different stages of the 1,000 mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome. The hotel lobby also has an abundance of taxidermied wildlife — mountain goats, elk, bison, eagles. Clearly authentic, but certainly an acquired taste. And the 6th Annual Beer and Bacon festival was going on in the parking lot — apparently quite a lot of fun.
A 4 mile walk around the Lake after dinner brought some outstanding views of the mountains in the distance. (Take a look at the final two photos below). Quite an inspiring sight. I’m hoping for clear skies tomorrow and a chance to walk the coastal trail. Apparently you can see six different mountain ranges from Anchorage: The Alaska, Aleutian, Chugach, Kenai, Talkeetna, and Tordrillo ranges. And hopefully meet a moose somewhere along the way.
You were right about those last 2 photos. They’re simply stunning!