Alaska - Day 4: Anchorage

Today was the last day of this trip. After an excellent night of rest at the Sheraton Anchorage, I started looking for some flight seeing tour departing from Anchorage, after the failed attempt two days ago. There are several plane companies, but three of them seem to be the ones offering standard tours:

• Regal Air
• Rust's Flying Service
• Alaska Air Taxi

I called with very short notice as I needed a tour for the afternoon. Unfortunately, most of them were sold out already. For Rust's, I found a 10% discount coupon on one of those Alaska travel magazines (I don't recall the name) that I picked up from the airport upon  arrival. I didn't find any discount for the other two companies. However, after a few calls, Regal Air was the only one with a tour available. They would take two passengers if each one paid $40 extra per ticket. I think that most of these flight seeing tours have a minimum requirement of 3-4 passengers in order to break even. It's pretty expensive to operate a plane. Several companies are charging 2-5% fuel surcharge. The flight seeing tours aren't cheap, but they seem to be well worth the price.

Regal and Rust's  have seaplanes (did not check others), departing from Lake Hood at the Anchorage International Airport, which is just 15 minutes away from the hotel (about 5 miles). But  before arriving to Lake Hood, the wind started blowing, and they told us that although we could fly safely, it would be very bumpy. Bummer !  They said that  we wouldn't probably enjoy the flight, and offered to call later if the weather improved, which didn't happen.... I'll have to leave this ride for next time.  In this trip, I've been able to confirm how unpredictable Alaska's weather is. 

Ten miles away from Lake Hood seaport, lies the Alaska Native Heritage Center .

Alaska Native Heritage Center

The entrance cost might seem a little bit high, but not bad considering this rich source of information, and that they offer a free shuttle to the hotel. Alaskan natives are available inside the place willing to tell their stories and answer questions.  I recommend visiting this Center, and take the time to visit the reproductions of native Alaskan homes, which are not commonly seen at other places, and in particular, listen and talk to the natives. They told us super interesting stories about their ways of life.

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Afterwards, we headed to the Botanical Garden. It is a nice optional place to visit if time is available. It has tons of plants with their corresponding name tags. This visit took about 30 minutes, just a quick walk as there wasn't anything in particular that caught the attention (perhaps because I'm not deep in this topic, or perhaps this isn't the best time of year to visit).

Alaska Botanical Garden

From the garden, we drove to downtown. Close by, there is a small park called Resolution Point. This place has  breath taking view of the mountains. In clear days, Mount McKinley can be seen. Although today wasn't one of those clear days, the view was still great. A life size bronze statue of captain Cook stands in the middle of this view point. After taking several pictures and some fresh air, we headed to downtown for a coffee... what an unsuccessful enterprise. All of them were closed by the time we arrived (probably 8pm).  There were lots of bars and gift shops open, but the mood was for coffee. I would think that hotels were still serving coffee in their lounges, but we didn't try this option and decided to visit once last place before driving back to the airport.

Resolution Park - Anchorage

Captain Cook

Earthquake park is very conveniently located about 15 minutes away from downtown, and 10 minutes away from the airport. The park is small and it only takes 15-30 minutes to visit, take a look at the awesome views, and  read information about the terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit Alaska in 1964. I also recommend this park for a quick relaxing and informational stop.

Earthquake Park Anchorage

The airport wasn't crowded, and going through security was pretty fast. I printed the boarding passes in the machine located at the front of the rental car office (very convenient!). I could get lounge access in this return leg, which is of course a nice way of waiting 4-5 hours before boarding. 

Lounge  in Anchorage - Alaska Airlines

The lounge of Alaska Airlines offers little food (some cheese, vegetables, and chips  & salsa), but they offer very good wine and beer (limited to 3 free glasses).  The bar has 3 or 4 different types of Alaskan beers, all of them outstanding. The lounge includes free WiFi, as I think all of them do. However, it is kind of loud (the door to the hall was open) and it might be difficult to sleep there. Still, I enjoyed staying there for such a long wait.

Anchorage Airport at 11:30pm (notice the daylight)