It’s been just over 3 weeks since we arrived in Anchorage and I can honestly say that despite the large amount of snow that’s been dumped in the past week, we’re still loving every minute of it! It’s crazy to think that right now (November 10th) there is about as much snow on the ground here in Anchorage as we normally get all winter back home. Even though there is a lot of snow on the ground, the air is fairly dry so it’s not as cold as you’d expect. We’re both going to need to invest in a serious pair of winter boots before we do any winter activities, including snow machining.
After coming back from a 10-day road trip with games in Vegas and California, the guys were given a much needed day off yesterday. Steve and I took this opportunity to do a little exploring since we haven’t really done much since we arrived. There are so many options for places to explore outside of Anchorage but since there is only one main road south and we only had a day, we couldn’t go too far. We decided to take the Seward Highway south along Turnagain Arm, about a 15 minutes drive, to Chugach State Park, the third largest state park in the US. I’ve read that this drive, which leads roughly 50 miles to Portage Glacier (but that’s another day), is one of the world’s great drives… and we could see why. The tides at Turnagain Arm are incredibly impressive having the second widest range between high and low tide in North America (first is the Bay of Fundy). Turnagain Arm has something called a bore tide which is a wall of water coming in with the tide and is created by a wide range between high and low tides (more than 35 feet in Cook Inlet) and the narrow, shallow and gentle sloping of the arm. Turnagain Arm is one of two places in the US where these bore tides occur. When we got there yesterday the tide was out, which was equally as impressive, revealing the extensive mud flats. However, I’d like to go back again when the tides are changing because apparently they change faster than a grown man can run. Sometimes belugas can also be spotted in Turnagain Arm, which is something else I’d like to see. Pictures do not do Turnagain Arm justice… but I’ve attached a few below.
We also stopped at Potter Marsh, Anchorage’s most popular wildlife haven. It’s not a natural wetland, instead was accidentally created in 1917 with the construction of the Alaska Railroad tracks on the other side of the highway. Hopefully we’ll be back to Potter Marsh to go skating when it freezes.
We also stopped at the Potter Section House, a state historic site featuring a restored house and outbuildings that were once part of a railroad section camp that maintained 10 miles of railroad track.
Above is Steve standing in front of the large rotary snowplow that was once used to clear snow off the tracks.
We also saw our first moose not too long ago. He was just chillin’ on a front lawn near our apartment eating this poor person’s trees.
So until next time… when the bears go into hibernation and we venture a little further into the Alaskan wilderness…
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