Ahhh! Anchorage.

Today we awoke to a blue sky and light breezes. We could see the fresh snowfall layer lying straight across both the Talkeetna and the Chugach mountain ranges where the temps cooled below freezing last night. It was in the 40's at our lake level. We gathered everything together and headed out from the Lake Lucille Campground. It is owned by the town of Wasilla, kind of rustic. Lots of green growth, low shrubs, tall grasses and plenty of shade trees in the park. And due to the recent 3 days of showers, lots of mosquitos. Bob checked out the bathrooms and said "don't bother" very stinky! We first headed into town and filled our propane tanks at the Tessaro station on the corner. One tank was empty and the other quite low. Between the two we used 8.25 gallons of propane for $33. (cheaper than swapping tanks) Then headed down the Parks Highway (Route 3) to Route 1, Glen Hwy all the way south to Anchorage. We had booked a week at the Golden Nugget because we really wanted to have some consistent showers and I had my special convention of Jehovah's Witnesses this coming weekend. We found the campground readily, but drove the block around it first as we were on the early side for check-in. The side roads were very bumpy and lots of small run down trailer homes surrounded this area. We were a little leary. I walked onto the grounds to check the bathrooms out. They had coded locks but a grounds keeper gave me the code. I was able to check them out. They were clean and spacious and had free showers. There is also a large laundry room that is a bonus at about $2 a washer and dryer. We decided to pay the 7 day, discounted rate (AAA< AARP< Senior Citizen) instead of the discounted week rate. It was a little cheaper and allows us to perhaps cancel after 4 or 5 nights if we wish to. It came out to $43.20/night. As we know there are options out there. Chugach SP is calling us! And there are both Camp Walmart, and Camp Fred Meyers in the city! After dropping the camper off the truck we headed into Anchorage proper to explore. Driving south-west past the international airport and 3 hospitals to Earthquake Park. It is a small park with a very long bike/pedestrian trail that runs along the city side of the Cook Inlet. Lots of historical information is displayed. It is the site of the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake that devastated the hillside in that area. There were homes and businesses sitting on the bluff. The subsoil many feet below the homes was primarily a silty clay that became liquid when the quake shook. It caused lots of damage but surprisingly only 4 deaths attributed to it. However there was a related tsunami that occurred and that caused lots more damage to the ports of Seward and Valdez devastating them. Today Anchorage is a great shipping port that still services 75% of the population of Alaska.

The trail goes on for several miles and we walked a good stretch. It is heavily shaded and the mosquitos were abundant here as well. Had to keep moving! The bicycles were motoring past but everyone was cordial. We even saw a Policeman on Pedals. When we returned to the truck it was supper time and I had spotted an ad for Yak and Yeti, an excellent Indian/Tibetan, and Nepalese restaurant. They had two locations, the one on Spenard Road was full menu, the Cafe was on West Northern Lights Blvd. We chose Spenard and were quite surprised. It was voted best world cuisine in the last 2 years! We enjoyed it.