Anchorage!

Leaving Fairbanks was quite a challange, as you can see the ceiling and visibility was very bad. We waited several hours for it to lift, then the weather improved, as we left the field went IFR. We flew about 400' off the ground for about 20 miles before the ceiling lifted. Along our route it was pretty good, but (as you can see in the next picture the mountains were obscured. All those on our trip didn't get to see Denali. What everyone saw was this (see first picture), but they should have seen this (second picture).

After our arrival in Anchorage we parked in the "aircraft campground", the route to the campground required us to cross a road that had a gate. There was a huge gate, like a toolbooth, that opened automatically and each plane taxied across individually. The drivers of the rental cars left to retrieve the cars and those of us who remained got a much needed nap.

Our lodging is at the swanky Millennium Hotel which sits on the shore of Lake Hood. Lake Hood is the largest seaplane base in the world and is also next to Anchorage International, it is not uncommon to sea a floatplane taking off at the same time as a 747. The hotel is a "pilots paradise" because the outdoor deck allows one to watch the seaplanes take off and land while enjoying a nice cold "Alaskan Amber".


For dinner we went to Phylllis's Cafe for crab legs. Phyllis's serves up huge portions of crab and only those who refuse to eat go hungry. I ordered 1lb that came in two crab legs. Joe Edmonson joined us for dinner, he and his wife have travelled from Alabama in their RV and have been gone since May 15th. We met Joe on our first trip to Alaska. At the time Joe walked up Frank Lewis was trying to make a picture of the group, Joe offered to make the picture (remember very few people in this group know Joe), Frank handed him the camera and I yelled "He'll steal your camera!" at that very moment Joe took off running with Franks camera. The look on Franks face was classic, he didn't even know what to do, he tried to chase him but didn't know where he went. We all got a big laugh out of this and of course Joe was an instant hit with the new group.


Sunday we go bear watching with Rust's Flying Service...