Alaska, Day 1
It’s 10:45 in the evening. It’s just starting to get dusk here in Cooper Landing, Alaska. Our trip started this morning in Austin when our plane left at 9:40, connected through Houston, and ended up in Anchorage at 4:30 Alaska time, which is 7:30 Austin time. We drove two hours south into the Kenai peninsula to the Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing. Along the way we hit Turnagain Arm at the exact right moment as the tide was coming in. While we watched, the great expanse of mud flats filled up with a rush of water until you couldn’t see any of the bottom. They say that if you get stuck in the quicksand-like mud, you can drown within an hour if the time comes in, and I believe it. It was amazing.
Further down the road we saw a “Moose Xing” sign and I exclaimed that I wanted to see a moose. Not 5 minutes later, we rounded a corner and saw that the car in front of us had to slow and nearly swerve to avoid a moose crossing the highway. Later on, as we ate dinner on the balcony of the restaurant at the hotel, a pregnant moose cow walked past underneath us.
When we got near to the lodge we started noticing the locals – one kid dressed in his swimsuit and mullet, walking down the road after a swim. Is he nuts? It’s only sixty degrees outside. Another boy didn’t even glance up as we drove past; he was too busy whipping it out to pee on the road. We were a little nervous as to what the place had in store for us. Then we saw a fence that was marked every 10 feet with signs saying “Shooting area – do not enter”. Turns out we are less than 1/2 mile from a gun range that’s open to the public until 9pm. All we need to do is find a place that sells 9mm and we’re there, baby. I will get to shoot my new XD9.
At dinner I had an excellent local beer called “Moose’s Tooth”. I immediately started craving more but they floated the keg, so I had to try another.
What a beautiful day to fly in on – 60 degrees, sunny, dry, slight breeze. So our car smells a little like smoke and the salmon aren’t running yet. I don’t care. I may just sit on our deck and look at the mountains all day long. Friday morning we have to be in line to get through the Whittier tunnel by 6:30 in the morning. I’m not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. If it’s nice, maybe we can get a sightseeing cruise in Prince William Sound. We shall see.
My daughter is concerned that we might not have a bed to sleep in where we are, so I promised her we would take lots of pictures and show them to her.
I will post them here later.