Driving with Rick

Day 8
Sunday – 7 September

Well after the excitement of the early hours of the morning, a sleep in was required. We missed breakfast. As we were packed and ready to go we checked out of the hotel and bravely hit the road again. Overnight Rick’s driving skills on American roads hadn’t improved and my hair was going greyer by the minute. As we were both suffering from disturbed sleep, it took the two of us to concentrate on what side of the road we needed to be on, what the speed limits were and where we were going. Mind you the Alaskan roads were a might scratchy in that they have sunk into wheels ruts and when you drive you need to stay into the already created ruts or the car will wander into the next lane.

We were off to t he Alaskan Zoo. Although it wasn’t too far away, we didn’t have precise directions but a vague idea of where it was. We figured we’d just drive until we found it. And we did.

After having been to the Wildlife Park the yesterday, we found the zoo to be really disappointing. The animals were in small cages and had that ‘caged animal’ sway. Most looked sad and didn’t want to be seen if they could find a hiding place. Our objective was to see the DAHL SHEEP. When we found them they were hiding at the top of their exhibit and could barely be seen. Not happy! Time was getting on so we decided it was time to go as we needed to return the car. Just as we were walking out two little squirrels ran across our path. Here was wildlife running free. Yippee! We spent about 20 minutes watching and photographing these playful and elusive little critters. They were so cute and we did manage a photo or 2.

Our next stop was the Hilton Anchorage. This was to be our hotel for the tour we were going on. As you can imagine it was rather swish, with an eager Bellhop racing out to grab our bags from the car and footpath. Thank god because they are heavy. Once we checked in and sussed out the shampoo and extras it was time to go shopping.
Yes, it was time for the shopaholics fix. Richard had spied the signs for the Labor Day holiday sales. As Alaska has no sales taxes clothes, shoes etc are so much cheaper. So after a significant period of time we came out with a new pair of jeans and six pairs of socks – all greatly cheaper than in Australia. More weight for the suitcases! Hopefully the shopping bug has been fed and we don’t have to return to the store again.

The Hilton was nice enough but not as spacious as the Clarion. We had a great view from our room over the whole of Anchorage to the south, east and west. It was like a fairyland at night.