Anchorage, Alaska

Catch up day.

There’s a Costco in Anchorage and shopping there feels just like home. We stock up on provisions that will last for the duration. A stop at a laundromat takes care of another chore.

We eat lunch facing the Knik Arm. Anchorage is a port city and a water view is easily accessible.

Merrill Airport serves private aircraft and on a summer day there can be as many as 1,100 take-offs and landings. They say one of every 60 people in Alaska is a pilot. That would mean about 8000 in Anchorage alone. With the small private airfield, the International airport and Elmendorf Air Force Base the airplanes buzz overhead like flies.

This “city of flowers” lives up to its moniker. Hanging baskets adorn every light post and businesses seem to compete with elaborate plantings.

There’s an aroma of reindeer sausage in the air. The outdoor vendors don’t traffic in ordinary dogs.

Fresh Dungeness for dinner.

In Anchorage we are 4,683 miles from Paris and 2,015 from San Francisco and what feels like light years from Spokane.

Wildlife count: 0

Airstreams: 1

Miles: 0

Gratitudes: PKB: crab legs JMB: Costco

Gin Score: J: 1775 P: 1680

Little Cabin Big City

City of Flowers