2023 - A Trip to Alaska
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The Hendersons 2023 - A Trip to Alaska - Anchorage |
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2023 - A Trip to Alaska |
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After many false starts at last Alaska! We had planned an Alaska Rail trip in 2020 but COVID forced us
to cancel. Thank you, Wuhan Laboratory. Our big trip for 2023 was supposed to be some backroads in
Italy but torrential rain in late May forced us to cancel, six months of rain in
36 hours resulted in thousands being dislocated and we thought the good people
of Italy didn’t need a couple of American tourists in the midst of their
disaster. So we made a last minute decision and tried to reconstruct our
2020 trip. Many learnings and changes but we finally put together a trip that
came close to our 2020 plan. Alaska Rail is
celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. While initially
established for freight in our 49th state much of the driver today is
tourism, with four major routes. Tours can be basic ride a train from one point
to another or a complete package including lodging and sight-seeing including an
upscale class called Goldstar. Goldstar has two deck cars with dining on the
lower level and sightseeing in a domed car on the upper level. One of our learnings was that people booked trips months in
advance so we couldn’t book the itinerary we wanted and had to opt for a journey
one day less than what we wanted. Alaska Rail contracts with hotels at their
sites and their contracts were sold out in Anchorage so we had to book our own
lodging. All that said it all worked so here is our travel journal and
photos to add to dear old tukatz.com July 30th,
Sunday There is a three hour time difference between Frisco and
Anchorage and our flight was scheduled for 6:30 pm departure with arrival about
10:20 pm in Anchorage. Alas, delays on each end made us an hour late but we were
able to get a shuttle to our hotel despite the late arrival. Crashed for the
night. July 31st,
Monday We took a shuttle to Anchorage center and visited the very
helpful visitor center staffed by volunteers. One of their tips was a visit to
the Alaska Public Lands Information Center. Great introduction to Alaska through
displays and films. The earthquake of 1974 still impacts the state because of
the extreme damage. They also had a great film about Alaska wildlife which we
hope to find on the internet and show Cassidy and Rowan – see Alaska’s Coolest
Animals, which can be viewed through Y-Tube. Days are long in July, about 23 hours.
As a result of so much daylight the flowers are spectacular. I’m envious of the
Indian Blanket,
Gaillardia pulchella, here which is far more
beautiful than what we have in Frisco even though it is a Texas native. We had planned a visit to the Alaska Heritage Center but time
ran short so we took a Anchorage Trolley Tour which was quite informative.
Aviation in Alaska is really important and we learned that the geographic
location of Anchorage puts it within no more than 9 hours of about 70% of the
world. We took the shuttle back to the hotel and walked to a local
restaurant for a very unremarkable meal.
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