An Alaskan April

None too soon, April is upon us and it has brought a much-needed respite from the long, cold winter. Don't get me wrong, as Anchorage is beautiful any time of year, but as I get older, it gets harder to accept the long, dark nights. However, it's all forgotten now. I guess it's obvious that I haven't finished my learning curve of this blog, because I just made an error. You see, I have returned to booking cruises and cruisetours with Why Not Travel and was trying to set up blog for them. Well, instead of doing that on her account, I did it on mine, and it's taking me forever to switch it over to her. So if this blog doesn't make sense, it's because my mind is elsewhere right now.

But I must tell you some of the things happening in Anchorage, because we have had a deluge of events. On a personal note, I gave a speech at the Liars Club (it's the truth) and we had a Kids Fair and Womens Fair and a grand opening - three big things this weekend. The opening was our War Museum, and they cordoned off Fourth Avenue to display military trucks, Hummers, etc. and had a festival type atmosphere inside. Evidently, Alaska is the last state to get a war museum, and there were veterans there from the last 4 wars. Am counting right? They all wore their dress uniforms, some unbuttoned. There were lots of walker, wheelchairs, etc. Some ladies did a line dance, and musicians continued the entertainment. . . we did it right!

On the ski scene, this is the last week for skiing at our Alyeska Resort and the slush cup in coming. I simply must get some images to post here for you next week. It's always a fun event. Even the tourists have started arriving, and it looks like it'll be a wonderfulsummer. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Wild Winter in Anchorage

If 'wild' and 'cold' go together, this is the winter of both. However, everytime I compare our winters with those back East, I think this is still the place to live. There was a period of time when the temperative did not rise above zero, but now it's a balmy fifteen degrees or so, and there are indoor and outdoor choices to fill your days. The ice sculptures in Town Square are quite beautiful and a stroll thru this park is a delight.

The University offers so much that you could be flitting back and forth between the Planetarium show at the Conoco-Phillips Science Building, Folk Festival in The Wendy Williamson Auditorium, Jazz Benefits at the Arts Building, and Sports events on both the campus and the Sullivan Arena.

Skiing dominates the outdoor sports, with downhill skiing at Alyeska Resort, which is 40 miles south of town, and cross country skiing at Kincaid Park being the dominent venus for these.

Plans are gearing up for the Fur Rendezvous celebration, which promises to the big lead-in weeks to the Iditarod Raes. So it won't be long until the long dark days are over and we will have survived another year of an Alaskan winter. It's still a good time to visit Anchorage before the big crowds of summer start arriving.

Hostelling in Alaska

Alaska now has two members of Hostelling International. The downtown Anchorage one has been open two years, and just this past week, there was an official opening at the Girdwood Hostel in Old Girdwood. This is the village localed 40 miles south of Anchorage, and butts the great ski slopes of Mt. Alyeska.

It was billed as an 'ice cream social', as you can tell from the pictures here, taken by our board member, Patty, who loves snapping candid shots. Any time is a good time to visit, but I prefer right now, as our summers are just beautiful, and this year was one of the best.

The State Fair has started, so check back to my blog and I'll send some shots of it, plus some trivia.