Best vacation ever, Day 12 and 13, Alaska

Best vacation ever, Day 12 and 13, Alaska

At this point, things are winding down.

We got up and found a scrumptious breakfast place, The Snow City Cafe. Apparently everyone thought it was scrumptious and walkable from the hotels - we waited quite a while, but they serve coffee to those on the benches, so all good!

The flowers flourish in Anchorage due to the extended daylight. The dahlias were gorgeous!

We took an uber to the Alaska Airlines Center, which is further out - too far to walk when you are going to run a half marathon the next day...

Did I mention the half marathon?

After retirement, Barry decided he wanted to run a marathon in every state, but to include me and my hip in this journey, he graciously switched it to half marathons. So we timed our vacation to include the Mayor's Marathon weekend. Interestingly, so did about 40 runners from the village of Libertyville Running Club. The club founder was running his 50th state marathon, so a bunch of fellow runners came along. They had club shirts both today and in the race, so found ourselves saying "we're from Libertyville, too!" many more times in Anchorage than we would ever have imagined.

Alaska is a great state for minimizing waste - the practical environmentalist. So, no goody bag (we throw out most of the filler, right?) and all forms online. As you checked in, they assigned a bib and registered it to you online. Checked as we left. Done.

Expo - über - Walmart (morning food, sweatshirt for before race) - hotel - walk on the coastal trail - ice cream at Wild Scoops, a micro-creamery. Barry had the famous "Baked Alaska" cone which features toasted marshmallows on top of your ice cream.

Half marathon morning walked to race start.
Nice start with a recognition of all the 50 staters, national anthem, and Alaska state song. Temp was about 60, full sun. Race starts on the coastal trail, moves up to the road by the airport, takes a real trail with roots and hollows and grass for about a mile, cutting through the woods back to the coastal trail, then you run home.

Barry and I weren't expecting any great shakes for this race, due to general fatigue after our active vacation. The race had more elevation gain than we expected, mostly in steeper inclines, and most despicably climbing into Anchorage downtown from the trail at the end. Yes, I walked. Yes, it still counts!

Post-race treats included fruit, donut holes, and grilled cheese sandwiches. We headed out for gourmet pizza then off to the airport...time to go home. I would go back to Alaska in a heartbeat. Beautiful, wild, fun, clean and not crowded. Much left to explore!

Best Vacation Ever, Day 11, Alaska

Best Vacation Ever, Day 11, Alaska

Josh picked us up bright and early, none of us felt like much breakfast after the late dinner yesterday. We went over to Denali and hopped a bus to the sled dog kennels!

Denali still has working dogs; often the dogs can move heavy items across the snow much better than vehicles. They love to work, they are bred to work. The AKC doesn't recognize the Alaskan husky as a breed because there isn't any uniformity of color or form - they chose each year's litter for smarts and temperament and strength.

All the dogs received their morning kibble in Kongs or other slow feed devices - they had to work to get the food out. Beautiful animals. After the demo started, the ranger told us the dogs work until they are 9 years old! When she asked us to clap, a cacophony of barks erupted - "pick me! pick me!" Click here for a video  The middle dog you see jumping up and down like a spring was ignominiously escorted off after the run...the walk of shame. He is only 10 months old, youthful enthusiasm overruled training.

Josh took us to the train station for our wonderful return to Anchorage via the Alaska Railroad. We were in a dome car, so could see eagles fly overhead and all the scenery. In the back, was an open deck for viewing/photography without glare of windows. We were served two very good meals during the 8 hour journey. Young tour interns pointed out items of interest and then...

SHE REVEALED HERSELF in ALL her GLORY.

Only 30% of summer visitors to Denali see Mt. Denali. Clouds often obscure the peak due to wind patterns around the heights.  TAH DAH!!

So awesome.

Said goodbye to Lisa in Anchorage...she was headed right to the airport. We hiked over to our Marriott hotel, which seemed so...so hotel-ish after our stays in the lodge rooms. Time to rest up!

Best Vacation Ever: Alaska Day 1

Best Vacation Ever: Alaska Day 1

Writing these post-vacation, hope my recall is good!

We started the travel day getting up at 5, taxi at 7:30, flight at 10. Barry and I planned to use one day passes at the O'Hare United Lounge, but no go...busy Monday morning so restricted access to only real members. Barry then dropped his insulated cup/vacuum lid (not Yeti..Menard's version) and it immediately cracked. We soon discovered mine leaked like a sieve when tilted, so will shop in Anchorage. Water bottles were required at our Lodge. This incident is important...stay tuned.

The majority of our plans were made through the Great Alaska Adventure Lodge. More on this AMAZING location and people in upcoming days. One of their preferred Anchorage hotels was the Lakefront. This hotel sits on Lake Spenard/Lake Hood, the largest float plane harbor in the world. Only 20% of Alaska is accessible by road; many people have personal airstrips and planes to reach their homes. Float planes flew overhead continually.

We took the gratis hotel shuttle downtown Anchorage to eat and buy water bottles. Had an early dinner at The Glacier Brewhouse, then off to an outfitter store. Managed to do all before the return shuttle scheduled. When we arrived, the shuttle was loading, clearly more people waiting than seats. Several irritated couples spoke up saying they waited an additional hour due to previous shuttle crowd, so we backed away. When it left, we started chatting with a woman unable to get a seat, and offered to share an uber.

This was my biggest God-incidence of the trip (I don't believe in coincidence!). Lisa was about our age, first time to Alaska. It turned out she was with Great Alaska as well, and would be traveling with us in the morning. And she was from Indiana. And, sadly, she revealed that this was to have been her 30th anniversary trip with her husband, who died in November after late stage cancer diagnosis. She courageously decided to come alone. We shared much of our trip, and it was a joy to get to know and spend time with Lisa.

Early night due to time change and 7:30 a.m. morning pickup. So much more to tell you! Stay tuned. Third picture is the tease...