Bob and Thelma had various things they needed to sort out on their car, including a repair to their cracked windscreen, so we spent most of the day 'doing our own thing'.
After all the rain of yesterday we were pleased to see that it had virtually stopped and when I went to take one of the last pictures of the cars outside the Comfort Inn, the skies were starting to clear.
Our hotel is right beside the Alaska Railway station in Anchorage, which is a rather pleasant art deco styled building. It had a great old steam engine on a plinth in front of it.
Close by to the railroad is the Eisenhower Statehood Monument in recognition of President Eisenhower signing the act admitting Alaska into the Union in January 1959.
We walked on into the town and past the historic civic centre where outside was this plaque naming all the towns Anchorage is twinned with. Much to our surprise we saw that one of the towns was Whitby!
Shortly after the civic centre we went to the Catholic Cathedral. It was built in The Alaskan town of Knik in the early 1900's and then moved, by horse-drawn sledge, to its current site in the 1920's.
The central square is a very peaceful place in the centre of the city with beautiful flower beds and a large fountain dedicated to one of Anchorage's benefactors.
As we were walking back to our car to drive out of the city to Earthquake Park, we passed these painted bull mooses. Were these the only ones we would see?
We drove about five miles to Earthquake Park, which is situated on the edge of Cook Inlet and looking towards downtown Anchorage.
Earthquake Park is sited where a large part of the bluffs overlooking the inlet simply slid into the sea, taking many houses with it, when the devastating Good Friday earthquake struck in 1964. Many scientists believe this was the largest earthquake ever recorded.
One of the display notices showed the devastation to central Anchorage. This notice shows 4th Street, with the shops on the left many feet lower than the road.
We had a snack lunch, using up the last of the food we have been carrying with us. We then drove a little farther along the coast and parked overlooking the sea. In the car park was this beautifully restored 1930 Ford. The owner is sitting on the running board. He told me he had three more from the same period, all of which he had restored himself.
As we were getting back into the car a young woman, who had been jogging came up to us and asked about our trip and whilst we were speaking to her we said we had not been lucky enough to see a bull moose. Much to our astonishment she said she had just seen two bulls about half a mile away. Off we went to see if we could find them. After about ten minutes with no luck, we met three people walking the other way. We asked if they had seen the moose, but they said no. It turned out that Barbara was trying to find a moose to show to her visiting great-nephew, Derrik and great-niece, Emma.
So, off we all went in search of the moose. After a few minutes Emma shouted for us to stop, and there in the woods, about 50 yards away, were two bull moose.It was not easy to take photos through the trees, so I spent most of the time taking video, but we did manage to get a couple of shots, which hopefully will show what magnificent creatures they were.
By now time was getting on as we had to get back to the hotel, join up with Bob & Thelma and take the cars to the shipping agent. We said our goodbyes to Barbara, Derrik and Emma, promising to e-mail them the photos of the moose.We returned to the hotel and then both cars drove the 2 miles to the shipping agent, where we took this last photo before the cars are shipped out tomorrow. Bob can just be seen unlocking his spare wheel on his roof rack as there is a 7ft height limit for the ship.
This evening we are having our farewell meal in Anchorage. Bob & Thelma fly out at 9am and we at 12.30pm. They are going to see their son and daughter-in-law in Washington and we will be back in Malibu for three nights.I had hoped to post some thoughts on the whole tour, but that will have to wait till we are back in California.
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