Another nice day in Anchorage. The road crew that has been grading and re-grading the road next to the B&B was at it again this morning even though it is Sunday. They start early and seem to me to be re-doing the same work every day. Charlie has a theory that we're being followed around by the same road crew and they set up shop overnight just to make our trip a bit more difficult.

Since Jane and I had seen most of Anchorage yesterday, we decided to just go in this morning for a movie at the Alaska Lands Federal Building and a short walking tour that discussed Captain Cook's time in Alaska. It was on his last voyage while searching for the northern passage. He was later killed in the Hawai'ian islands on the voyage home. We had seen the spot while in Hawai'i the last time. The rest of the group had not yet seen Anchorage and so spent most of their time downtown.

At the suggestion of Peggy, our B&B host, we decided to take a side trip down the Seward Highway to Girdwood, about 35 miles south of Anchorage. This small town was apparently devastated in the 1964 earthquake. It was relocated farther inland and rebuilt. There is a large, first class hotel, the Alyeska Prince, there which has a ski resort and a tram to the top of the mountain.

We took the tram up and bought the package deal that included lunch at the summit. It's a 2000' climb and takes the tram about four minutes. We opted to try the reindeer sausage sandwich. It was good and a bit milder than "normal" sausage. At least it didn't taste like chicken! There are no native reindeer here that we know of but apparently some people raise reindeer.

After returning to the B&B, we headed off to the local laundromat to get our clothes washed. It's our last day here as we leave for Denali National Park tomorrow morning. We have an eight-hour bus tour scheduled there. Our chances of seeing Mt. McKinley are about 10% and rain is forecast. Maybe we'll at least get to see some wildlife. We've been pretty well shut out on that front. A few whales far away, one moose that Charlie saw, and a few bald eagles too far away for photographs.

I kind of consider Anchorage the turnaround point for heading home, although we won't actually point the bikes southeast until we leave Fairbanks on Tuesday. Since we put a contract on a house in Austin just two days before I left, I'm anxious to get home and work on that. We also have to get our current home ready to sell.