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!

Why? Why Go Back?

I think I might be a travel junkie.  When I am not on a trip, I am often researching future itineraries. Repeat visits are seldom considered.  This is because there is still so much left to see, but not neeearly as much time or money...  

Alaska is my exception.  Alaska is worthy of repeating.  And before my second trip has even take place, trip #3 is already being plotted. 

• Alaska #1 was in June 2013 - no bugs, perfect weather and nearly 24 hours of daylight.  I covered Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, Seward and Kenai Fjords. 
• This trip (Alaska #2) will be the last week of September 2014 - just after tourist season ends and before the snow.  The lodges will have closed up, and Denali National Park will be closed - except for the first 30 miles in.  With only 5 days, I plan to cover more of Anchorage and Seward. 
• Trip #3 is expected to include the northern lights (aka aurora borealis) and sights north of Fairbanks - hopefully into the Arctic Circle and maybe all the way to Prudhoe Bay - orrrrr... the opposite direction: southeast. - Damn, this is starting to sound like there will be a trip #4!  

I remind myself: Alaska is GINORMOUS.  It can not be seen - or comprehended in a week.

Source: http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/ak/general/information.htm

Cool stuff many people don't know about Alaska.
[Consolidated from: http://alaskaconservation.org/experience-alaska/did-you-know/]

• our largest state.  Alaska is over twice the size of lil ole Texas...!
• has 3 million lakes
• has over 33,000 miles of coastline 
• has 17 of the 20 highest mountains in North America. Denali is the highest at 20,320 feet

Denali - from my trip last summer/June 2013

• Caribou outnumber people - by nearly 2 to 1
• There are more bald eagles in Alaska than in all other states combined
• Gray wolves inhabit 85% of Alaska
• All three species of North American bears flourish there:  Polar, Black and Grizzly
• Thompson Pass (near Valdez) received 974 inches of snow one year
• State capital: Juneau (population of about 31,262) is the only state capital in the US with no road access. It can only be reached by air or sea

Transportation:

[Source: http://www.ak99s.org/flyalaska.html]

• Alaska has six times as many pilots per capita than the rest of the U.S
• There are fewer than 12,000 miles of paved roads
• Aviation is not only the state pastime; it is the state's major form of transportation

Glaciers:
Only 616 have been officially named.  Estimates put the total around 100,000!

Geology/Earthquakes

Alaska is one of the most geologically active places on Earth, and has over:

• 700 earthquakes annually and
• 80% of North America's volcanos. 

[Source: Jeff Corwin's 'Into Alaska' (2007 TV Series, Episode 4 'To The Ends of the Earth')] 

Why go back?  

[Closing words from 1997 IMAX film, "Alaska, Spirit of the Wild"] 

     It's a land of countless streams

          and mountain peaks still unnamed.

     A place shaped by ice and solitude.

     In Alaska, we are witness to the triumph of life itself.

     Here we can rediscover vitality

         vanishing from our lives

     Reawaken the spirit of the wild

          remembered not in our minds

          but in the blood and the heart.

     Whether or not we will ever reach Alaska,

          we all want to know

          that such a place still exists.

Click here for link to Day 1