Anchorage #2

Wow, another AMAZING day here in Alaska! After breakfast at the hotel, we got in the rental van and drove to the Native Alaskan Hospital. Roland has been looking for a certain type of Eskimo good luck charm and someone told him they have a good selection of native crafts and artwork at the hospital gift shop. Appearantly, word has gotten out, because Michele and Roland said it was packed when they went in to have a look. I waited in the van outside while they shopped for a little while.

We had to cut the shopping short, because it was time to drive to the Lake Hood Seaplane BAsin and check in for our bear viewing tour. We arrived at Rust’s Flying Service, checked in for our flight and were pleased to learn that we’d be flying over in a Cessna Caravan on floats. We had about 30 minutes to kill, so we walked next door to check out some of the outdoor displays at the air museum –including a retired Alaskan Airlines 737.

Pretty soon, the Caravan pulled up to the docks and we waited while they turned it around and fueled up. Finally, we climbed in and took off for Redoubt Bay. Upon arrival, we taxied up to the Lodge and went in lunch –the Halibut was delicious!
After we ate, it was time to get in a small pontoon boat and go looking for bears. We began with a slow cruise around the shoreline where we saw bald eagles and a beaver lodge. Next, we idled into an area where a waterfall tumbled over a rocky beach into the bay. There were quite a few boats anchored here, about half of which were actively fishing for salmon. We anchored about 50 feet off the shoreline and we could see salmon splashing around in the waterfall and on the rocks trying to get upstream. The fishermen were pulling them in left and right. There were eagles circling in the sky and lots of seagulls on the beach, but no bears…

Thank goodness we brought our big coats, because it got cold sitting out there waiting and watching. The boys were starting to get a little restless. Finally, we spotted a black bear! It lumbered out of the woods into the waterfall, scooped up a salmon, and began eating. Our guide said sometimes they only eat the fattiest parts (head & skin) and leave the rest. That would explain all the gulls. The bear ate for about 10 minutes, then got up, caught one more fish for the road, and wandered back off into the woods. It wasn’t long before we saw another bear approaching from a different direction. We must have seen 4 or 5 bears in all. It was GREAT!

Finally, it was time to motor back to the lodge for a hot cup of coffee and much need bathroom break! One of the staff told us our plane was running about 20 minutes late to pick us up, so we make ourselves comfortable and chatted with some of the overnight guests. The lodge had great food, but I think it is a little too rustic for us –they had outhouses for bathrooms! 45 minutes later, our plan still hadn’t arrived and we were getting a little worried. We hoped that our pilot hadn’t had some type of emergency. Finally, he touched down and taxied up to the dock. It turns out, he had gone to the wrong place first by mistake! He had to add some fuel and then we were back in the air for the short flight back to Anchorage.

We were all tired and hungry, so we stopped by Wendy’s on the way back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we are scheduled to leave Anchorage and fly about 30 minutes to Seward. I hope the weather is continues to improve –I’d like to see something more than clouds on the way down.