We knew the total time to get to our next hotel was about 7 hours and we'd stopping in Anchorage for lunch but what we didn't know was that our mid-morning stop - they try to stop every couple of hours - would be at the Iditarod Headquarters. When our tour director Tia mentioned that they would likely have puppies that you could hold, Jess just about jumped out of her seat. When we arrived, she ignored everything else there and got to the puppies as fast as she could. The first dog she got to hold was very tired and just fell asleep in her arms; I think everyone on the tour who had gotten to know us checked to make sure there was nothing hidden in her coat when we boarded the bus. Eventually she got to hold all three 7-week-old puppies and I think she would have stayed there all day if she could have.
Our next stop was downtown Anchorage. It was cool and gray but at least the rain mostly held off. When we got there, they gave us a map of the city along with places to eat lunch and I'm pretty sure they have deals with them and the liquor store they suggested to visit. We thought about going to the museum but since we had less than two hours, we wanted a quick bite to eat so we picked a place that had some quick sandwiches. Unfortunately, after walking there (which was the opposite way of the museum), it turns out the place was closed along with a cafe next to it. As we made our way towards the museum, the only place left to eat that was on our map was the mall food court. Of course, when you're in Anchorage, you really want to get the local flavor by eating Subway and pizza in a mall.
As we sat there, I looked up the museum and it was pretty expensive considering we wouldn't have much time there so we bagged that idea and just headed back to our motor coach meeting spot, stopping at some shops along the way. We did find a visitor's center in the old Federal Building that was pretty good and we also made our way to the Captain Cook Monument which offers up great views from downtown; on a clear day, you can see Denali but today was cloudy so we didn't see much.
Our home for the next three nights is the Kenai Wilderness Lodge where all of the rooms are basically cabins that still feel partially like hotel rooms (so no repeat of the North Rim here). They even have wood burning stoves and are stocked with wood; however, it was relatively warm in there already so I don't think we'll be getting a fire going. The view outside of our room was amazing and because the lodge is very small and isolated, there isn't much noise.
This is basically what our room looked like at 11 PM.
The rainbow has to be a good sign, right?
After a drink at the lounge they had there that overlooks the mountains, we ended up having dinner with 3 other couples we've met and we split up the guys and the girls. It was a great time all around and I had what I think is the best pork chop I ever ate. It's been great meeting new people and getting to know them so far on the trip.
Dinner took a couple of hours and when we went to bed later in the evening, the skylight windows of the cabin kept it pretty well illuminated. Thankfully we were so tired we were still able to fall asleep with very little trouble.
As they say at the Iditarod Headquarters, "Hey lady, you can't take those home with you. Come back here!" Note: No one said this, but it was close.
