So this 17 hour day stuff is proving a little challenging. With the last light at midnight and first light at 4:30AM, sleep isn’t easy to regulate. But it does mean LOTS of time to go and see and do. And since Kim and I were up and ready to go by 7:15, we had an early breakfast and caught the shuttle into town to see what we might see.
First stop, watching some salmon fishermen in Ship Creek, which flows into the Knik Arm and out into the Cook Inlet. It is the only place in North America where you can salmon fish within sight of a downtown area. And from the bridge over the creek you could see the fish swimming upstream, and occasionally get caught. We found one guy filetting his catch for his freezer; beautiful dark orange fish ready for the grill. From there, we strolled to the marketplace, where food and craft vendors set up shop on summer weekends. There were photographers with gorgeous prints of scenes around Alaska, and artisans who had carved the natural jade, and other uniquely local jewelers and artists. As well as food vendors with flavors likely only found here.
I had wanted to walk a bit of the Coastal Trail along the Cook Inlet because I’d read that on a clear day it was possible to see several distant mountain ranges, including Denali. Alas, it wasn’t a clear day but we did have a decent view of Mount Susitna, at 4,500 feet, across the Knik arm of the inlet, which the locals call the Sleeping Lady. A viewpoint and monument to Captain James Cook sits above the trail looking out to sea and the area he explored on the HMS Resolution in 1778. When he failed to find the Northwest Passage in the inlet, he was happy to leave and sail onward. There was a placard on the viewing deck so we could see where we should be seeing Denali, but the cloud cover prevented a view.
We discovered the AK Public Lands Information Center, and since we all know how I enjoy a map and a visitor’s center we stopped in there to learn more about the flora, fauna, geography and wildlife in this enormous state. Interesting stuff and like catnip for our adventure to begin tomorrow.
A quick lunch at the 49th State Brewery gave us a taste of the local craft beer business, which they seem to take very seriously. And like in many places that bring in huge summer crowds, the waitstaff that we’ve encountered seem to be from either somewhere in the lower 48 or Eastern Europe. With only 710,000 inhabitants, and almost 2 million visitors during the peak season, there are over 40,000 jobs to be filled and plenty of young people seem to embrace the adventure.
As we waited for the shuttle back to the hotel, we were amazed by the flowers in the local park and at the tourism office. The most vibrant orange and purple and yellow flowers in full summertime bloom.
After a rest at the hotel, we went back into town to a restaurant called The Bridge, which was literally over Ship Creek, and there were even more anglers this evening. Dinner was fresh caught rockfish for me and halibut for Kim (turns out there is a limit to the number of times each day one can eat salmon). We joined the others watching the fishing from the bridge afterwards, and saw one being hauled in, another already caught, and two being filetted on the clean up table. It was 9PM and the sun was still high when we caught the shuttle back to the hotel. Oh, and since cannabis is legal in AK, we visited a shop on the downtown drag. Just because.
