Anchored down in Anchorage
We spent two full days in Anchorage, and mostly took it easy. We started our first day by going to the airport to pick up our rental car. That normally wouldn’t be worth mentioning, but the service we received was so gracious, I feel it warrants mentioning. The clerk at the National car rental counter was having trouble with our rental, it was coming out about $400 more than we were quoted, so he called his supervisor in to help him fix it. She was able to override the system, and tried to figure out how to get it to charge us the quoted price, but somehow it came out wrong again, but this time over $150 in our favor, which apparently was fine with her. Nice!
While we were wrapping that up, Ted mentioned that we were going to be back at the airport the next day, for a day trip to Homer, and asked where was the best place to park. The supervisor said that instead of paying to leave the car in short term parking, we could park in the garage where the rental cars are, let them know what we were doing, and save ourselves some money that way. Amazing.
Once we had the car, we went off in search of a grocery store. Somehow our GPS took us to the center of town instead of the grocery store, which was fortuitous, because we were right by Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, which both Kathy and I wanted to visit. The bakery was recommended to me by Margaret, and the last time Kathy was in Anchorage she and her friend had tried to go there, but it was closed. So we stopped and got some delicious scones and coffee for breakfast, as well as a loaf of bread to take home.
We had a small guide book of things to do in Anchorage, and it suggested that we might see wildlife at Potter Marsh, so off we went, hoping to spot a moose, an eagle or two, and perhaps even a bear. What we saw was a beautiful large marshy field, and some ducks. I like ducks, but we have plenty of them here. We walked around there a bit, enjoying the mountains in the distance and the cool, drizzly weather, reading about the invisible wildlife, and then moved on to see if we could find the elusive bore tide. From the link:
Rushing along at speeds of up to 24 miles per hour, tidal bores are an unusual, unforgettable sight in Southcental Alaska.
Visit Anchorage
One spot to view the tidal bore is beluga point, so named because it is also an excellent spot to view beluga whales. When we got there, however, it was raining sideways, as the winds were suddenly extremely gusty. We had missed the timing for the tidal bore, but even if we hadn’t, the waves were rough and our eyes could not make out much with the rain and wind. Perhaps there were beluga whales, but we sure didn’t see any in all of that rain and wind and choppy surf. We went back to our Airbnb and dried off. By the time we got there, a mere 20 minutes later, the weather had completely changed again so Kathy and I went out for a walk, to the nearby Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. There we saw more ducks, finally a couple of eagles (though they were flying pretty high, so we didn’t get a good look), and a pair of swans with their cygnets. We went back to the Airbnb and had a nice dinner there.
Friday we flew to Homer, which will get its own post. Saturday was Anchorage again, and we were off to a late, lazy start. We went for another, longer walk at the Coastal Trail, this time with Ted and Maya along. I think we walked about 7 miles. I don’t remember at this point what we did about lunch, but I know we tried again for the tide and the belugas, and again we were hit by rain and wind. Ridiculous.
The only solution was ice cream, and Kathy had read about a place called Wild Scoops that she wanted to try. We weren’t very hungry, but since when does that mean anything at all? I mean, on vacation you have to try all of the things. There was a long line, and while waiting, we discussed options. Kathy was interested in a sampler, where you could try 4 flavors of ice cream, and perhaps sharing that. I didn’t like the idea of anything chocolaty touching my rhubarb crumble ice cream, so politely declined. I did want to try at least two flavors, and happily they had an option where you could have 2 small scoops in place of 1 regular scoop. I don’t remember what they called it. I had the rhubarb crumble and the wild blueberry, which went together amazingly well and were delicious. I don’t remember what Richard and Kathy had, but Maya had the chocolate, and Ted didn’t have anything. Ice cream doesn’t play well with his tummy. Back to the Airbnb for the evening, and then the next day we flew to Juneau, the final part of our trip.
19 Comments
nance
I’ll have a Baked Alaska Cone with a scoop of Winter Chocolate. What an awesome menu. I wonder how the Spruce Tips ice cream is?
One of our tour guides in Alaska (not sure where) told us, “There’s no bad weather in Alaska, only inappropriate clothing.” We went in July and had mostly wonderful weather, just one day of nonstop drizzle. And I never did see a moose or a bear!
J
Nance, I would love to hear about your trip, where you went and what you did! I agree somewhat about the weather, but clearer skies would have helped me to SEE more.
J
After leaving my comment, Nance, it occurred to me that you said you went to Alaska almost 20 years ago, and I know you’ve been blogging since 2005, so I gave it a try, and YAY! Your entire beautiful cruise to Alaska was there for my reading pleasure! The whales, the fjords, the dancing and lobster and champagne. So glad for blogging, and for being able to just want to read something, and then go read it. I’m glad you had such an amazing time, and that you shared it.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
Yay to National and I’m taking notes for the next time that I rent a car.
I know very well that a trip to Alaska could result in rainy hikes to see ducks that we have at home…but still it sounds like fun. And ice cream is always the answer!
J
Beckett, you are right, it was fun, even if we didn’t get to see some of the things we wanted to see. 🙂
Margaret
I would be all over rhubarb crumble ice cream, being a big fan of rhubarb. I’m so glad you made it to Fire Island; I forget to tell you to try their amazing peanut butter cookies. I don’t even like peanut butter cookies and I found them amazing! Rachel (the owner) is such a great person too.
J
Margaret, I’m glad that you suggested that place, thank you. I’m not sure that with the scones and ice cream, we needed any cookies thrown into the mix, but I’ll bet they are delicious. The place was busy, which is always good to see. I’ve not had a lot of rhubarb in my life, so wasn’t sure about that, but the crumble part got me.
Tierney
I love the mix of walking and nature viewing. Did you know that beluga whales have magical powers to bring on rain when they don’t want to be seen? Haha. Sorry you missed out- the weather sounds torrential!
J
Well, THAT explains it, thank you!
Ally Bean
You had rhubarb crumble and the wild blueberry for the win! I’d have picked the same flavors. I’m also happy, deliriously so, to learn that you had a positive experience with a rental car company. THAT doesn’t happen often, savor your good fortune.
J
Thanks Ally, those were indeed delicious flavors, I felt like I picked well. However, my brother and SIL, and Maya, all really enjoyed theirs, so perhaps there were no bad flavors?
Alaska has such a small population, and I think that contributes to people just being NICER. I mean, there are definitely a-holes too, but everyone we met and interacted with there was very helpful and friendly. It was really refreshing.
Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns
Mmmm rhubarb crumble sounds amazing! That is a bummer about the weather. I can handle rain but rain and wind is a bad combo and wears a person out fast!! Glad you got such great service at National!!
J
Thanks Lisa! Yes, it was quite blustery. I was very happy with the service from National, and I made sure to fill in their online survey to let the company know what great employees they have in Anchorage!
Stephany
Oh, what awesome service at National! Saving $150 is AMAZING, especially for a rental car. They’re so expensive these days!
Looks like a really fun time, but bummed you didn’t get to see the beluga whales. That would have been so neat!
J
Thanks Stephany! So many things we didn’t get to see that were dependent upon weather, or upon animals being where we wanted them to be rather than where they wanted to be. Oh well, we did see a LOT.
San
Wow that was extremely nice service from the car rental agency. That doesn’t always happen! Its sounds like a great time in Anchorage, although I would have been bummed to not see the beluga whales 😉
J
San, I’ve been pondering the work from the car rental agency, and wondering if it is the corporate thing or the local thing, and I feel like it is an Alaska/local thing. People there are overall so much more low key than California, I realy liked it.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
The ice cream place looks amazing. I would love to sample some of those.
I wasn’t able to comment on the previous post – too late?! – but the whole trip sounds amazing. The train ride really must have been something. I can only image. We took the amtrack from Vancouver to Seattle back in 2012 and it was amazing. But Alaska must be next level.
Too bad the beluga whales escaped your eyes. Are they permenantly at that spot or do they migrate?
Also the rental service reducing the price was a nice thing. Not happening that often, does it?
J
Tobia, thank you so much for coming today and commenting on all of my Alaska posts! Yes, I have set comments to go away after a certain amount of time, it keeps the amount of spam I get under control
I feel like a train ride from Vancouver to Seattle would be perhaps even prettier than the ride we took, if you see a lot of water. I love seeing the ocean or bays or rivers, etc.
I think Belugas do migrate, but the time for them to be in Anchorage was when we were there, or maybe we missed it by a couple of weeks, I’m not sure. They like to eat the salmon that are running, and we did still see some of that when we were there.