Touring the Anchorage Area

After a restful night (well some of us woke up at 4:00 am which is 8:00 am Michigan time...) we enjoyed a nice hot Springhill Suites breakfast, then headed northeast to Wasilla.  We saw lots of views of the Wrangle Mountains. on this drive.  Along the way we spotted a sign for Thunderbird Falls and thought that might be nice to see. But after we found the projected 1000 yard walk was going to be 1 mile, we bailed and headed on to Wasilla.

Since we wanted to make an 11:00 trolley tour of Anchorage we did not stay in Wasilla very long.  The trolly guide gave a nice narration, mostly focused on the 1964 earthquake, but with a nice tour of the float plane area as well.  The planes launch from two lakes and they even have their own control tower!  

After a nice salmon burger lunch at local restaurant called Humpy's (well at least that was what Mary and I had), we headed for our float plane tour. 

Our pilot was quite young (and the owner's son), but has been flying since before he had his driver's license.  We sat Katie in the front by him, with Mary and I in row 2, and Andy and Melissa in the back row.  The plane looked a bit dated so I asked and found out it was nearly as old as me! But it looked to be in great shape and well maintained.

Overall it was a super ride!  While it was a bit bumpy at times, we saw several moose from the air and circled Mt Susitna before heading back toward Anchorage.  This picture shows a moose and her calf trailing behind her .  On the return, the pilot surprised us with a landing on Figure 8 Lake.  The landing was amazingly smooth, especially compared to our commercial jet landing the day before.  

Now we are off to Moose's Tooth pizza parlor for supper, then back to the hotel to crash for the night.