Exploring More Anchorage

Whew, it is chilly tonight in Alaska! Today's weather was like we had expected it to be: cloudy, dark and windy.  The sun finally came out about 6pm (almost middle of the daylight!) but it is still windy and cold. We walked to dinner from our hotel and were really happy to get back. We've tried several different places in town, all with good results. Tonight we went to Humpy's which had been recommended to us by several people as a real local's place. It was Anchorage's answer to Sunpies except nobody was sitting outside tonight.

Today's tour was really fun. There were only 4 of us being driven all around the Anchorage area in a mini-van. (originally scheduled to be 6 of us but one couple cancelled). This picture is from the top of town with the sea in the background. The town has grown up this hill and is quite exclusive, though we understand several residents do not stay for the entire winter.  The views are magnificent, including moose grazing in the meadow below us.

From here we headed to the Portage glacier area, had some lunch and a boat tour to the glacier on the Ptarmigan. This glacier feeds into the Portage Lake which appears to be a popular spot for kayaking. In fact, we saw one kayaker who had beached his craft and was climbing the rocks near the glacier -- for a better view? We couldn't decide what would make a person do this.  The glacier was not calving today though we did hear many cracks. 

From here we headed to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. This center serves as a rescue for injured wildlife as well as a center for breeding and reintroducing wildlife, such as the wood bison, to their natural habitat.  We did see wildlife here! Bald eagles, linx, grizzly bears, black bears, musk ox, wolves, black tail deer, elk, moose and grey horn owl. We watched the bears being fed, saw a great film on reintroducing the wood bison and thoroughly enjoyed seeing these animals being kept in as close to natural environment as possible. Many of the animals here live pretty long lives. They have been brought here after being found on the trails, etc after having been abandoned by their mothers for one reason or another. 

Off to Seward tomorrow -- early again! We took the bus out to the airport tonight to pick up a rent car.  Should be another great trip tomorrow as that Seward - Anchorage highway is touted to be one beautiful drive and the excursion tomorrow sounds very exciting.