July7-8th,2012, Anchorage

Ask anyone that knows me, I am not  fan of cities, and so when we drove into Anchorage I expected the worst. Again I have been surprised as the people here are so friendly, there have been plenty of things to do, and we are enjoying our stay!
The main reason we stopped here was to get our prescriptions. Renita called hers in and the pharmacy first told her they didn't know if they could get it. Upon further checking they said they could but it would take an extra day's wait for the order to arrive. oh well.
We then went to the local Fred Myers and stocked up on groceries and I repaired a battery terminal that had been giving us a bit of a scare as our twelve volt system showed us a zero charge indication while we were out in the country.
With that done, it was time to play tourist and so we first went to the salmon viewing and public fishing area. As we approached it was obvious that nothing was happening as there weren't any fisherman. The answer to this is there aren't any salmon, the king salmon run has pretty much disappeared. No one knows why and Alaska simply released a statement that its not their fault.

Anyway we did pick up a new bird, a Theyers Gull, and so our next stop was to the local Arts and Farmers Market. It was really refreshing to find a place where booth after booth was filled with actually local made arts and crafts! Of course there was some of the imported stuff from Asia but still most of it was made here, by Alaskans. It is always such a pleasure to chat and trade ideas with artists, its one of the ways we get new ideas and material.
The one disadvantage of such places is the availability of materials for us to purchase, and often we spend too much, and of course we did. We were able to purchase mammoth ivory and small pieces of mammoth teeth. We both are excited to be able to work these into our own designs.

The next stop was to Potters Marsh, a local birding area along Cooks Inlet. It was so cold and windy that even the birds were huddling, as you can see in the opening image of tree swallow chicks wishing they were still in the nest. We did get three new birds, an Arctic Tern, a red breasted grebe, and a solitary sandpiper.
Another place that we had to stop was at a local rock shop, Natures Treasures. We had a great visit with the owners who also do lapidary and we were able to purchase some Alaskan rough called Aurora Borealis. If you are into ricks this is a great place to learn about other Alaskan treasure, besides gold,
So we now have an extra day in Anchorage and we haven't yet decided on what to do. I am sure Anchorage will surprise us as we both have really enjoyed our time here. Tomorrow we head for the Kenai . Clear skies