Here We Go, Anchorage

Time flies when you're having fun. The tourists are arriving in Alaska via cruiseships, planes, and bicycles. Now don't laugh at that, they really do have many long distance bikers here, or coming here. This week, they had a 'fun' bike ride to Arctic Valley. See image above! This is a hill only a few miles from downtown, and it's all uphill. It's surrounded by military property. Did you know that the two military installations here have merged, and now it's called Elmendorf-Fort Richardson. Makes sense, doesn't it? At the crest of this Arctic Valley Mountain is two ski-areas. . .. on military, and the other is civilian.

It's a great place to learn to ski, and surely more affordable for families than our chic Alyeska Resort. But, in the spring it turns into a great place for hiking, or biking. Some bikers choose to commute to work

Weekends bring many benefit rides and rallies, plus farmer's markets and Tai Chi in the Park. But, there's a lot going on indoors, too. It's a nice time to Alaska, and the Visitor Guides can direct you to some form of your interest. Come on up and visit the Great State.

May Day - May Play

It didn't take long to welcome in spring, and change our lifestyle. Yes, it's time to put away the snow boots, mittens, and skull caps, and bring out the flip-flops. And none too soon. I don't know how long our beautiful weather will last, but it's outdoor play for me. Our Hostel Council has set up for a bike ride on May 21st, and the Mayor has given up a proclamation staing just that. I hope the sun tunes in, and give us a beautiful day for the ride and ice-cream social following it.

There are bike races, footraces, and biatholons every weekend, it seems. And as for indoor sport, the ice hockey team, the Alaska Aces, is on it's way to winning the Kelly Cup again! The summer baseball season is also looking good, with it's first game coming in just a month!

As for indoor events, I would say that the graduation ceremonies of the 5 high schools in Anchorage takes the limelight. However, Blue Man Group is coming for a week. They send their own cleaning crew, both for the stage and the first few rows, which gets it's share of the flying 'stuff'.

If you've seen the show before, you'll understand. They even bring their own wash machines, I hear. So let's hope our beautiful Performing Arts Center looks the same after, as before.

As you may know, I'm a travel consultant, and I might just add that the cruisetours in Alaska, and partially Canada, are well worth the extra expense after you get off your cruise. Oh, yes, I book cruises too, but I want you to know that the interior of Alaska has a lot to offer, as does Dawson City, Canada,m so I am just mentioning that because I just set up a page for this blog - whynottravelalaska.blogspot.com -- read it when I get something up on it.