Alaska Trip - Day 8

It was nice not having to drive so much today. However, we made up for it by hiking a few miles!

It took us about 3 hours to get to Anchorage, mostly because I kept pulling over to take pictures. I got some good ones because the rain stopped briefly.

Unfortunately, the second half of the trip the rain returned, along with lots of fog. It made a stop in Palmer, then took the old Glenn Highway route to Anchorage, which was a bit more scenic. It was weird to all of sudden see farms again.

We spent the rest of the day in Anchorage. After we drove around the city a bit, we stopped to get an oil change for only $54. What a great deal! Next, we went to two little "mom and pop" establishments that the locals seem to love- they were so crowded! One was called "Wal-mart" and the other was "McDonalds."

Next, we checked into our hostel, which is in midtown Anchorage. We spent the next three or so hours hiking at two of the city's parks, Kincaid and Earthquake. Both were in city limits, but seemed like they could have been out in the wilderness. I got some great pictures at Earthquake of the Anchorage skyline.

After that, we went downtown to do a little bit of shopping for Alaska souvenirs. We easily found a parking spot, and it was even free to park there!

I like Anchorage. It has everything you need, but it's almost completely surrounded by wilderness. It's also a lot quicker to get around in than Kansas City. It rarely gets warmer than 70 degrees here, though. Today was actually 70 and sunny- absolutely perfect.

As I type this we are doing our laundry at the hostel. There are a lot of people here tonight from countries all over the world. One of our roommates is from Brisbane, Australia.