Day 6 Adiós Alaska

• Visited Alaska Public Lands Information Center in a historical federal building
• Lunch at Cake Studio. Soup and croissant for me, and soup and cookie for Mom. I had dessert twice: coconut bon-bon.
• Stopped by airport to check on our flights. (When we checked in on-line earlier in the day, we were told the flight was oversold.) Our seats were confirmed, despite the overbooking. Even waiting in line at the Delta counter was enjoyable. We met:

1. Verizon manager who was flying home to Seattle. He had been in Anchorage for Verizon's initial launch and store openings in Alaska!
2. Cook from McKinley Princess Lodge - who was flying home for the winter. He said he'd be returning to AK in January to start year-round work.
3. Retired military woman (from Florida) who used to sponsor other military families arriving to Anchorage. She was head-over-heels in love with Alaska! She answered my question about where and when Alaska has 24 hours of darkness. She said:
• 24 hours of darkness occurs in Fairbanks and north of Fairbanks - for 80 days each winter.  
• That covers a HUGE part of the state.  
• Interestingly enough it is an area that few residents have ever visited. I asked quite a few.)
• I am recalling that 40% of the state's population lives south in Anchorage.

80 days of 24 hour darkness in the winter

• Drove north of Anchorage - part way towards Wasilla. Turned around at Eagle River
• Visited the HUGE Anchorage Museum - with send off by magpies

Photo by Helen Mae Boudreau

• Bid adieu to Anchorage - Alaska's most populous city. This photo articulates how perfectly sandwiched it is between the water and mountains.

Photo from: http://www.alaska.org/destination/anchorage/restaurants

• Returned rental car. Cost was less than quoted! ($204 for 6 days)
• 4pm: dinner at airport

Last photo taken in Alaska - through window at Anchorage airport
7:30pm Monday 9/29/2014

• 9:30pm flight (Anchorage to Minneapolis/5.5 hours). I sat beside yet another hunter from North Dakota. He showed me cell phone photos of the caribou he had hunted for the last two weeks - north of Nome
• In Minneapolis, Mom caught a flight to Boston, and I went to New York City (LaGuardia) and then to Norfolk for a 4pm arrival. (three flights and layovers totaled 14.5 hours)

Landing in Norfolk - passing my office downtown

• Believe it or not... I, of all people, slept 10.5 hours and then returned to work in the morning!