No morning activities planned today, so I let Mark sleep in. Since our hotel’s claim to fame is being the closest lodge to Denali, I was hoping for a view of the mountain this morning. But alas, it never showed. (Apparently there are forest fires somewhere in the Yukon, and all you can see is a gray haze from their smoke.)
We packed up all our belongings and headed south to Anchorage. Today’s ride was a motorcoach, which means a fancy bus. (There are loads of school buses here in Alaska, which they use to transport tourist groups between hotels and national parks.) It was a 2 hour bus ride to Anchorage, through thick forests of lush green. The trees were cleared on either side of the road to prevent drivers from hitting any moose who simply stepped out of the forest and onto the road. (Moose are huge, and really dangerous to hit.) Vic got to see her first moose, and we saw another on our side of the bus.
We drove through Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin and 15,000 other Alaskans. It was the first time since I’d arrived that I felt like I could’ve been anywhere in the Lower 48 – there were fast food restaurants and chain stores EVERYWHERE. Truth be told, after a week in the wilderness, it was all kind of shocking. There were street lights and traffic, and even a big Wal-Mart, which we learned sold more duct tape than any other Wal-Mart in the country. They’d even sculpted a duct tape moose in honor of it.
However, there were other signs that reminded us we were not quite in a metropolitan city. We passed one fast food joint with one customer at the drive-through window -– a guy on his ATV!
The drive to Anchorage was pretty. Soon enough, we were in Anchorage. The bus dropped us off at our next stop -– a visit at the Alaska Heritage Museum. It was filled with artifacts from the original five Alaska tribes, including a huge totem. This one had a little funky monkey holding it up at the bottom.
Outside, there was a half-mile walk around a beautiful lake, with small huts all around. 
Each hut housed native tools or treasures, and a native teenager who explained the significance of them. It was really cool to see the teenagers all dressed up and eager to discuss their heritage, instead of sullen and plugged into their iPods.
There was even a dance demonstration, starring an extended family from King Island. It included some uncles, parents and kids. The men played traditional drums made of walrus skin, while the kids and moms danced. It was very cool.
If Wasilla had surprised us as a “big” city, Anchorage downright shocked us. They had traffic lights, crowds and even a mall (which closed early, since it was Sunday).
The bus dropped us off at the Captain Cook hotel, which was most exciting because we met up with the rest of our tour group -- my parents, cousin Kathleen, and Monica. They all joined us for the cruise, and were as excited to be in Alaska as we’d been one week earlier.
Mark was really excited about his rollaway bed, which included a "seat belt" to keep him from falling out of bed. He's really looking forward to seeing the bed seat belts I've told him about on the boat.
We dropped off our bags, and headed out for a quick stroll around Anchorage. It seemed pretty busy, even for a Sunday night. Almost immediately, we found some fun photo opportunities.
Group shot with a moose
On our way to find the Yukon Gold
We found a really cute little cabin surrounded by beautiful flowers, and all the shops displayed enormous hanging flower pots outside. The midnite sun really does wonders for the flowers –- no matter where you look, there’s a ridiculously large flower pot blooming.
Dinner was at the Glacier Brewhouse, and was excellent. I’ve been eating fresh salmon and halibut the entire week, and the Brew House was no exception.
After dinner, most of the group retired to bed. Kathleen, however, was thrilled to be on vacation, and ready for a little sightseeing. And Mark was all full of energy, so the three of us took a walk.
Kathleen was totally freaked out by the amount of sun. She couldn’t get over how light it still was.
During our walk, we stumbled on a playground. Mark ran off to play with a couple other kids, and Kathleen and I admired the view of Cook Inlet. It was mostly swamp ground out to the ocean, the consistency of quicksand, so we admired it from afar, on a park bench.Pretty soon Mark informed us he was tired. Kathleen realized why – it was after 10 p.m.! That strong sunlight plays tricks on you – it felt like 4 p.m., not after 10. So we headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s big adventure -– our sea cruise!
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