| Page Views: 1,212 Last Visit to Anchorage: August, 2007 | ALASKA, America's Last Frontier by Tugboatguy - last update: Oct 23, 2008 |
Anchorage from the Air-Boeing 737 at Altitude | Downtown Anchorage Next to Knik Arm |
Anchorage is a modern large city of over 300,000 population within the city limits, the hub of Alaska and completely rebuilt after a disastrous 1964 earthquake destroyed much of it. This photo taken by me upon departure from my Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 shows downtown Anchorage adjacent to Knik Arm at the bottom which is an extension of the Pacific Ocean. To the lower left is the port area of Anchorage and the "snaky" stream there is Ship Creek, where salmon return to spawn. I have written an Off the Beaten Path Tip on that place. The lake to the right center is Westchester Lagoon bisected by a main road Minnesota Drive which leads to West International Airport Road, and is one of several fresh water lakes in and around Anchorage.
Except for the mountains, Alaska reminded me somewhat of northern Minnesota around Duluth and Lake Superior, the world's largest fresh water lake. Alaska has more lakes than any other state, impossible to count. I found the automobile drivers in Anchorage to be more polite and careful than in Southern California, and this was much appreciated. Anchorage is a wonderful jumping off place to explore more of Alaska's vast natural resource treasures, including North America's highest mountain, Mount McKinley or "Denali" at 20,320 feet, visible from Anchorage in clear weather. Remember-Go to Alaska, B4UDIE! |
| A Fun VT Meet in Anchorage, Alaska |
|  | VT Meet at the Sourdough Mining Company I want thank extremist (Patty) for putting together our VT meet and picking a wonderful restaurant for it. The Sourdough Mining Company is a true Alaska experience with atmosphere and good food to match. Patty was able to get springprincess (Manijeh) and catalysta (Wendy) together just before they both were shortly to leave the state, Wendy back to Washington and Mani to California. I was in contact with cnango (Nancy) for some time for a meeting and we Southern Californians finally met at the Anchorage VT meet. Nancy was with husband Jeff and their son Mike.
Around our table from the left to right are Tugboatguy (Doug), Mike, cnango (Nancy), Jeff, extremist (Patty), springprincess (Manijeh) and catalysta (Wendy).
This page, like Alaska itself, is a work in progress-I have just added (23 October) another Travelogue. |
| Chugach Mountains, Snow and Glaciers |
| | Everything is Big in Alaska! Mountains, Glaciers! This photo was taken out of my Alaska Airlines jet aircraft window at altitude of the Chugach Mountain range and associated glaciers just southeast of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. Alaska is so big the natives like to say "If you divided it in two, Texas would be number three!" August is a very good time to visit Alaska and Anchorage, for the weather is mild and sunny warm days are still long at such a high latitude. The clean, cool rain was refreshing, too-for southern California hasn't seen rain in months! What really brought me here was a VT meet of virtual friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the food, hospitality and friendship of all. Alaska also gave me a chance to ride in a seaplane landing on several lakes and see some of the back country wilderness, something I have always wanted to do. Please click on the photo to enlarge it.
A very pleasant and most welcome surprise was to find the Anchorage Daily News uses Weather Underground rather that the US Weather Bureau for its Weather Page Forecasts and Maps. The newspaper even has Anchorage daylight charts and a Pollen and Mold report, along with World Cities weather summary so you can know what weather you left behind.
VT has a connection with the Weather Underground site and I have had a direct web link to it on my Home Page for quite a while. To plan for or find the weather conditions, anywhere, click on the Wunderground link on my Home Page. You can customize the site's features to your liking. This can be especially important in planning a far-off trip with weather extremes over such as large an area as Alaska. Inland Alaska can be much colder than the coasts, and altitude in Alaska's mountains can bring extreme cold. Ocean-side Anchorage in August was a high of 60-64 F during the day, and got to about lows of 48 to 53 F at night. So, Know Before You GO! |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| Pros: | "Nature! Invigorating clean fresh air & good drinking water." | | Cons: | "Winters have short daylight; where are the grocery stores?" | | In A Nutshell: | "More Citified- for the Real Alaska-Get Out of Town" |
Tugboatguy's Anchorage Travel Tips
 Tugboatguy's Anchorage Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for Tugboatguy about Anchorage | | | | |
balhannah Sat Mar 7, 2009 03:57 UTC
Our Hotel was close to Lake Hood. We enjoyed sitting there for a while and watching the Planes. We enjoyed our short time in Anchorage | mvtouring Mon Feb 23, 2009 20:31 UTC
You are so privaledged to see things from the air ;-) | goodfish Thu Jan 29, 2009 14:55 UTC
I wonder how many tots have come unglued at the thought of Rudolph with scrambled?! Or over-easy with a little Blitzen on the side? HA! Great pages, Tug! | Maria250 Sat Nov 1, 2008 21:03 UTC
That's an awesome photo of Ted E. Stevens International Airport-Anchorage taken from the air!! - Thank you for your Mainz memories! I very appreciate! Maria |
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