Alaska - Part One

We got home a week ago today from Alaska..."The Last Frontier". We were terribly fortunate that David had just enough frequent flyer miles to get us all to and from Alaska, that my sweet Uncle lives in Anchorage and let us stay with him, that he happens to rent from one of his best friends, "Grandma Audrey," who had her road trip cut short and happened to get into town the day after we did, and that tourist season had started but wasn't yet in full swing.

We landed around midnight (3 am to us) and jolt #1: it was just dusk, not night, jolt #2: it was COLD! Not below freezing or anything, but lower 50s headed down through the 40s. It ranged from just above freezing at night to upper-50s, mid-60s during the day depending on wind, cloud cover, etc. David and Uncle Eric thought I was funny with all of my layers, but for a Texas girl that's cold!

We got to bed post-haste and didn't wake up nearly late enough. We were also blessed to have the use of my Uncle's swank SUV, affectionately named "silver car" by Sam. The first day we used it to hike around Flattop Mountain. We stuck to the Blueberry Loop Trail instead of the rough 5 mile hike to the top of the mountain. I fell I don't know how many times just on the loop, but there were plenty of people with appropriate footwear, poles, skis, and one dog headed for the top! It's known for the views it provides and it was breathtaking, what a way to start the trip.

The (often slippery) Ascent

Flattop Mountain

The "Blueberry Loop Trail" is called that because the area is covered with blueberry plants and in a few weeks there will be blueberries everywhere!

The Descent - We saw a fellow do this by accident on his way down/our way up. When it was our turn to go that way we figured out that sliding is the only way you can get down!

After the hike we got back to the car and headed back into Anchorage for lunch. We ended up at a local place called Snow City Cafe and it was fantastic. Nice warm comfort food after hiking, sliding and falling though snow all morning. Sam was totally beat though considering he thought we were eating lunch at 4 pm so we went back to Eric's to rest up and dry off.

Dinner that night was at another local eatery called the Moose's Tooth. This place makes their own beer (the Hefeweizen was judged to be the best by Uncle Eric and David) and pizzas similar to California Pizza Kitchen but there are a great many more options than at CPK. Yummo and a great way to end the day!