DAY 45 – 48 ~ ANCHORAGE

We had a very scary moment while driving on Parks highway to Anchorage.  This is a two lane, two- way highway.  We were cruising along at 50 MPH when the car in front of us suddenly slammed on her brakes and came to a complete stop.  We were many car lengths behind her but pulling a trailer.  If we had not pulled to the right we would have run up the back of her car.  We had room to pull to the right, but I was worried about the big rig behind us…would he be able to stop in time. 

But all was well, however in those few seconds, I saw my life pass by me and the end of our adventures in Alaska.  We saw a bumper sticker on the back of her car, “I Brake for Birds”, and that’s exactly what she did.  When we stopped further down the road for construction work, she got out of her car and came to ours ..”I just couldn’t kill that mother grouse and her babies…”  Well we exchanged a few choice words, she shrugged her shoulders and returned to the car.  I don't think we convinced her how dangerous her actions where and she will probably do it again.  Someday on her tombstone it will say "She braked for birds for the last time".
  
We are spending 4 days visiting Anchorage.  There are about 4 RV parks in the city, but they are next to the airport runway.  So the nearest, best place is in Palmer, about 45 miles north so we are RVing there.

After 217 miles and about 5 hours we arrived at Mt. View RV Park in Palmer.  This park is way outside of town in the country and has excellent views of the mountains.  Unfortunately the sites are out in the open on a vast lawn, too close together, and WiFi that has a weak signal (even though our site is across from the WiFi tower).  But the place is very quiet and quite pleasant when it’s a sunny day.

Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska with a population of about 292,000.  Half of Alaska's residents live in Anchorage.  Every summer the city is decorated with almost 100,000 hanging flower baskets with brightly colored blooms. 

Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center

This Museum is located in the far south part of the city near the Cook Inlet.  When we were here 9 years ago it was just the Anchorage Museum.  Now it has extended into the building next door; Rasmuson Center.  This is an excellent museum, compatible with the Smithsonian.  In fact, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center has exhibits and displays of more than 600 Alaska Native artifacts.  The museum has exhibits focusing on the art, history, science, and cultures of Alaska and the North.  Some of the art is modern art; very strange, unusual and exciting.  

Terra Cotta plates with dry pigments, spices and salts

The above is about the first thing you see when you start exploring the museum.  When you look at it from one end it looks like the piles are higher at the end.  But when you go to the other end and view it, the piles on the opposite end like higher.  Weird

 Made with golf bags

 The garment below is dedicated to missing and/or murdered First Nations women.  The puffer jackets at the bottom are a reference to missing persons reports which often state that the missing women "were last seen" wearing a winter jacket.  The "Pig" in the title refer to individuals who exert violence against women.

 "No Pigs in Paradise"

"Erasing the Border"

Next to this painting was a video projected on a large wall.  Just part of this video is below.  She actually painted this boarder fence separating Tijuana and San Diego in blue making it seem to disappear...in a little black dress and heels.   

"Hysteria"

Interesting textile art - made with lace doilies, vintage pot potholders, house hold linens, and pieces of an abandoned quilt.

"When relatives empty out a home to sell it, they keep the good stuff and spread the rest on a sheet on the lawn. The entire town of Wallis, Texas had a sale that Saturday... over 30 sales in a town of about 300 people.  Potholders were 25 cents."

This wooden dome represents a "pingo".  Pingos occur when the ground remains frozen for years at a time.  Water gets under the ground and pushes up near the surface and freezes into an ice lens that forces the topsoil upward and it continues to grow.  They can grow as large as 2,000 feet across and 180 feet tall.  Because they are made of ice, pingos are prone to changes in temperature and will collapse as they thaw.  This art piece moves.  The top collapses inward and then will move outward representing the growth and collapse of a pingo.  Because these things are the highest feature on an Alaskan tundra, it is used as landmarks for Inuit hunters. I never knew these things existed.  Very interesting.

This is a picture of a real "pingo"

 Made with feathers

 Selfie done in front of the above large painting.  Looks like we are really there.

This is a AAA Gem and a must see when visiting Anchorage.  You need 4 or more hours to enjoy all the exhibits.  There is also a planetarium (didn’t have time to see) and an interactive discovery center.  I couldn’t stop taking pictures, so much interesting stuff. 

Alaska Wild Berry Park & Village

Nine years ago, this was a booming place with lots of tasty chocolates, and a cowboy restaurant across the street with great food and a storyteller named Dusty that would entertain you after dinner.  Today the restaurant is all boarded up and the shop is just a tourist gift shop.  But they still make great chocolates candies here and chocolate covered popcorn and jams and jellies.  We made a stop here on the way back to Palmer and sampled some chocolate covered jelly candy.  Yummmm.

Chocolate fountain

Alaska Zoo

This is a nice zoo.  A small one on 25 wooded acres.  Its home to arctic, sub-arctic and Alaskan native animals.

 This is from a long ago art project.  I hid one of my turtle rocks in plain sight.

It was gone when we exited the zoo.

Wolverine trying to eat the grass.

Black bear

  

Alaska Botanical Garden

Its an easy walk through this 110-acre on a single paved path.  There are more than 1,100 varieties of perennials, 150 species of native Alaskan plants, herb and alpine rock gardens.  All the flowers are in bloom now, so it’s quite pretty.  There is also a 1- mile nature trail with a sign warning of bears.  We walked the trail, but saw no bears.

I hid one of my turtle rocks here

 Blue Poppy.  Never seen a blue flower before

 See the bumblebee?

 Prairie Smoke (above)

Alaska Native Heritage Center

This Center is on 26 wooded acres.  Outside, five villages sites surround Lake Tiulana.  There is a young Native at each site that explains the dwellings and talk about the artifacts inside each dwelling. 

The main building presents artifacts from five regional Alaska Native groups that inhabit Alaska; the Aieut and Alutiiq; Athabascan; Eyak, Tingit, Haida and Tsimshian; Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik; and Cup’ik. There are also tables where the Alaska Natives make and sell their crafts.  The Alaska Natives play a big role in the culture history of Alaska.  A very interesting place to visit.

Now we start Part II of our Alaska adventure.  We will continue to travel south into the Kenai Peninsula.