Epilogue

We stopped at Beluga Point this time, but it was still devoid of Belugas. The wind was really whipping and a fellow tourist spotted a few mountain goats way up on the mountain behind us. The outgoing tide showed us how shallow the Turnagain Arm really was -- the bottom was exposed.

We headed back to the RV rental center and parked in the same place that we picked it up. Had it really been a week already? We spent some time cleaning up the RV and retired for the night.

The next morning we got up and started packing. As we checked it in I went through the troubles we had -- indoor dust storm, broken closet, windshield wipers were about ready to go, and I just noticed that a headlight was punctured. I went over in detail about the dust problem we had on the Denali Highway. The RV rental representative noticed that the step leading up to the side door looked like it had been hit with a sledgehammer. That's what the loud CLUNK was on the potholed road towards the Seward RV park! I must have clocked a boulder on the side of the road. He didn't charge us for the headlight or step since we had so many other troubles. That seemed more than fair to me. Alaska Panorama was quite easy to deal with and I wouldn't heasitate to rent from them again. Total miles driven = 1400.

They even gave us a ride to the airport. We picked up a rental car (for only 2/3 the cost of a daily RV rental. Yikes!) and drove towards Chugach State Park where the guidebook said we could find some local trails. It was raining lightly by now, but we still paid the $5 park usage fee to park and hike. Our hike didn't last long: one trail was quite steep and another was too wet. The only wildlife we saw on the trails was a squirrel.

We decided to cut our losses and head into town. Somebody told us that every Saturday there was an outdoor market in downtown Anchorage. We found it to be a small arts/crafts fair which was kind of neat. The rain was still coming down and we didn't find any souveniers at the market that we liked, so we continued our shopping in the junk shops of Anchorage.

The weather was beginning to clear up, so we then headed to Turnagain Arm again to try out one of the trails off the side of the road. These trails were embedded in the woods and quite pretty. We went along one of them until it got quite steep and precipitous. Then we tried the second trail where we spotted yet another moose. The wildflowers were starting to come out finally at the end of our trip.

It was nearing dinner time so we headed back to Anchorage and happened upon Moose Tooth Pizza. Alright! Pizza sounded good after a week in an RV. And it tasted as good as it sounded. Our waitress had an Arizona connection in that she live in Phoenix for a long time before she came to Alaska on a summer trip and never went back. She said the winter nights in Alaska were almost unbearable, but everyone tries their best to get through it. The good part is that when the sun finally shows itself in February, you get 8 more minutes of daylight each day, so it's something to look forward to.

We picked up a local free entertainment newspaper and read an article about polar bears in the extreme north and how 2 guys survived a potential attack by using pepper spray. Polar bears hunt humans, and not even warning shots deterred this particular bear in the story. Sounds like pepper spray is a good investment.

Still had plenty of time to kill after dinner, so we found a movie theater and paid full price ($8.00 each) to see Gladiator. The film ended at 11:00p and it was still bright outside when we got out of the theater. We finally headed for the airport and waited to board the plane.

Finally on board the plane we were forced to suffer through an incessant screaming baby while they swapped out flight computers. We were in the air after a 1.5 hour delay.

What an amazing trip. We will indeed be back!