And, just like that, it’s over.
13 days of exploring the wilderness in climate controlled comfort have come to a close.
I’m writing this from the lobby of The Hilton in downtown Anchorage. We’re about a half block away from 4th Avenue where the street sliced in two during the Good Friday earthquake in 1964.
It looked like this.
4th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 1964
It’s a little disconcerting to think we’re on the 9th floor of a hotel that would have been shaken into oblivion by a quake of that magnitude. There is not a lot of visible evidence today from that terrible event. But the temblor did rearrange the geology of the region especially on the road to Prince William Sound where we took our boat tour of the 26 glaciers Friday.
Our good luck with the weather finally gave out as it began to rain when we boarded the bus. It was still pouring when we got on the Klondike Express excursion vessel and didn’t let up until we returned to the hotel five hours later. The rain and fog combined to blur the mountain views and prevented us from experiencing the natural beauty and drama of the Sound. We did cruise up close to the ice but the glaciers must have been feeling shy because none would calve as we slowly and quietly drifted by. We did see plenty of seals and otters but if there were whales feeling frisky and leaping out of the sea, we wouldn’t have known it because they were camouflaged by low lying clouds that engulfed the water and our catamaran. But that’s the way things are here in Alaska; no guarantees. You take what it gives you and it has given us plenty to remember and savor for a lifetime. I hope you all get a chance to experience it for yourself someday.
Now, let’s hope Delta Airlines returns us safe and sound to South Dakota without delay. I have a yard in desperate need of mowing and a bunch of stuff recorded in the DVR.
