Friday 27 May 2016

Anchorage, AK



After a quiet night’s rest in the wilds of Alaska at a primitive state campground, we decided to find breakfast on the road at the next small town. Sutton, Alaska was only 30 miles away and our Alaska Camping book mentioned a general store and café. We have found many country cafes serve good local breakfast so I was excited for good food. After we pulled in we noticed it wasn’t much of a place and our first impression was not wrong. When you enter a cafe and can’t smell food cooking you should quickly leave. We did a U-turn and entered the general store to make it look like we intended to make this stop. We looked around, bought nothing and left in a cloud of dust. We drove on to Palmer and found a nice coffee shop/café and enjoyed a nice breakfast burrito and coffee. The burrito was so large half of it will be breakfast tomorrow. 

In the Alaska Camping book, we found two campgrounds in Anchorage so we decided to stay here for a night. Remember we need the stop at Costco! One site was a government campground with only power. The other was a commercial park advertising that Costco was across the street. We needed laundry so the commercial park won. Shopping and laundry filled our afternoon so rest was not to be had. In the evening Karen suggested I call our daughter in Seattle to say hi. By the end of the conversation we had managed to talk her into jumping on a plane and flying up here to join us for a week. It didn’t take much coaxing for her to accept. I think she was ready for a vacation. Little does she know it will be a bit more rustic than her normal trips. We told Charlie she was coming to see him and he sat at the door waiting for her to show up. We need to not give him so much info that far in advance. He will be very excited to see her tonight and so will we. This will be fun. We will head down the Kenai Peninsula and find some beauty to enjoy. This being a three-day Memorial Day weekend may add a bit of a challenge. We will see. We are spending a second day in Anchorage waiting for Stacey to arrive so a restful day is planned. Time for window washing, house cleaning and some fun in the sun. Seventy-two degrees and sunny today: most people don’t come to Alaska to work on their tan!

Views along the Glenn Highway towards Anchorage:




Matanuska Glacier Rec Area, AK


We left Valdez this morning under sunny blue skies. The trip yesterday was mostly cloudy and we knew there must be mountain peaks hidden from us. That was confirmed quickly and the views were spectacular. The climb up Thompson Pass was a workout for our “little engine that could” but from the top we could see snow covered peaks and valleys for miles and miles. The same could be said for the whole trip back to Glennallen. The Wrangell Mountain Range was in full view for most of the trip. At one point we stopped for pictures of four massive peaks, three of them taller than Mount Rainier. That was a site we had not expected.

We rejoined the Glenn Highway and proceeded toward Anchorage. We had decided to make the 308 -mile drive in two days so we could stay in one of the state parks and enjoy some rustic forest scenery. Karen found many along the highway but I missed a few of the turnoffs. Our camping books warned us that they were not always marked well and although I am pretty good with u turns I’m not a big fan of doing them with the motorhome. We finally managed to hit the turn into the Matanuska Glacier Rec Area and found the small campground near the overlook of the glacier. The view of the glacier is amazing but you can see the evidence of its receding up the mountain valley. The campground has no amenities and has small camp sites but being only 25 feet long has its advantages. The eight sites in the campground are mostly secluded and we are now enjoying a quiet evening with only one other camper. Maybe I will plug the TV into a current bush and see what’s on. We are looking forward to a good night’s sleep. From the scat and game trails running thru the park this could be an interesting night.

Tomorrow we will pass thru Anchorage with a stop at the trusty Costco to replenish the larder. We have a shopping list ready to go. I am really looking forward to city driving with traffic and freeways. NOT.    

Was your imagination this good? Same view from yesterday but no clouds!

Cloudless view from Thompson Pass

Campsite at Matanuska Glacier Rec Area

Matanuska Glacier