Day 5 - 6/6/08

Wilderness Resort is somewhere I'd like to visit again. There are hiking trails on the property and one was closed because a mother moose (cow?) and her calf had been spotted near the trail. They closed it to protect hikers and leave the moose family undisturbed. Moose can be very dangerous when provoked. One bus driver said they often wandered onto the grounds.
Here's something you don't see in Central Illinois.
So many people love to just sit and watch Denali, the Lodge has rows of chairs inside and out for people to just relax and view the mountain.

The trip to Anchorage was long and uneventful, although we saw lots of beautiful landscape.
As we traveled south, we noticed the trees became broad-leafed.
We passed the offical starting site for the Iditarod. This is a very big event in Alaska.
The earthquake of 1964 resulted in salt water surging far inland. The water receded, but the salt killed all the trees. They literally were petrified from the inside out. New trees are growing but the "bones" of the old trees are left as a reminder.
When the tide goes out near Anchorage, miles of bogs are left. These are very dangerous because a person who becomes "bogged down" is in danger of drowning when the tide comes back in.

While in Anchorage we stayed at the Hotel Captain Cook. It was very large and posh, and the rooms were beautiful. We were not very impressed by the staff though.

Cheryl and I took a taxi to Earthquake Park and found our first Alaska letterbox.
It was 11 pm Alaska time(2 am CDT) and very light out. The Park was very busy with bicyclists and walkers--just as though it were mid-afternoon. Mosquitoes swarmed all around and we were very glad to have brought repellent with us.
I wish we could have seen more of Anchorage and gotten more letterboxes.