Rain, Rain Go Away

Sunday 16 August 2015

It seems that the weather has caught up,with us again. We woke up to rain this morning, not heavy, but wet stuff nonetheless. We had plans for some wildlife watching in and around Anchorage, rain or not!

After breakfast and settling the bill for our B&B, we set off heading south for Anchorage. It was warm, but drizzly. As we drove south, the mist/cloud was sitting halfway up the Chugach mountains and looked rather beautiful in a damp sort of way!

Our first goal was to stop at Potters Marsh on the Seward Highway just south of Anchorage. By the time we reached the Marsh, it was raining harder, and we also realised we had been there before and were disappointed with it. Instead of stopping we continued south on the Seward. Here, the road and the Alaska Railroad run right alongside the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet. It was apparently named by Capt James Cook when he explored the area. He was trying to find another way out of the dead-end sound and it was yet another turn again.

It is a beautiful, if busy, road that heads to Seward and Whitier to the south and Homer, a fishing port even further south and west. Sadly, today it was just grey and misty. The rain did not want to let up. We passed Beluga Point and Bird Point, both devoid of wildlife today and continued on to Girdwood.

We drove into the small township and happened upon a small coffee shop, The Grind. We decided it was time for a drink and also availed ourselves of the free wifi. I managed to check us in for our flight to Seattle tomorrow. It's a sign of the times in the USA, that we had to pay $25 per checked bag. I suspect this is the way of things for domestic flights here.

After coffee, we headed back north as it didn't seem any point sightseeing in the rain.

Back in Anchorage, we had a final attempt at bird-watching at a lagoon close to the airport. There we found that there was some kind of 'fun-run' going on, although it didn't look to be too much fun in the rain. The birdlife had also decided to stay at home too. We drove from there to Point Wozanak on the edge of down and sat in the car and watched the rain as we ate some lunch.

Back at the B&B, we did some planning for the next stage of our journey, a road-trip from Seattle to Minneapolis. We have accommodation booked for the next four nights and the vague outline of a route between the two cities.

The final job was to do some packing ready for our early departure tomorrow.

This evening, we paid our final visit to the Last Frontier Brewing Compay for dinner. As with the two previous visits, the food was tasty, the service good and friendly and the beer excellent.

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