Anchorage arrival - Alaska
After a 3-day vacation in New York seeing the sights (Traveling is our job now, so we need to start it fresh!!!), we hit our start point and first impression of the US.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/114002728.jpg">
Alaska from the sky.
The first thing that struck us was that people were much friendlier than in the UK but spoke so slowly. We found it hard to be understood, South East London accents aside, as we were speaking too fast. When we did try and speak slower it sounded really condescending, in our head and to each other, and we were expecting to be thumped at any moment. Fortunately everyone we spoke to didn't think we were! Wheew!!!
On the plane to Anchorage we sat next to Brian, a US Airforceman, based in Anchorage. He was a great help on places to go and see in Anchorage, which made the whole orientation much easier. As we could not pick up the bikes from Fed-Ex on Saturday as originally planned, we took up his suggestion of visiting Humpy's bar in Downtown Anchorage. This turned out to be a great recommendation as we both had a good night in here. There were some 40 + beers on tap and Live music. The music was supplied by a band of First Nation guys playing reggae, which even to our multicultural London eyes was something to be seen! We stayed there until the early hours in the morning and rolled out into brilliant sunshine! (This time of year it's dark for about an hour.)
After the big night out we needed a proper breakfast. Fortunately we were based near in infamous, we'll it is in Anchorage, Hogg Brothers Cafe which sold heart stopper breakfasts (Home fries and Cheese with everything!) for just a few dollars. This fortified us for the day and again the next day.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/114073183.jpg">
The 'Infamous' Hogg Brothers' !
With the delay in getting the bikes and for the ongoing trip budget we had to look to a cheaper option for a place to stay. The Anchor Inn in downtown Anchorage suitably filled this. We were able to get a much larger room for a fraction of the price. It was fortunate that both of us like dogs as the room came with scent of Eau de Labrador. But apart from that it was fine place to base ourselves until we were ready to move on.
Our time during the days here were mainly spent trying to tidy up admin issues from home as we had run out of time before we left. Thank heavens for the Internet and E-mail! How did anyone travel before this!
When we shipped our bikes from the UK we packed as much as we could at the time onto the bikes but we were unable to pack everything. So when we got the bikes back from Fex-Ex, this was the first time we could see everything and as hard as we thought we were being, there was way too much luggage so an afternoon was spent repacking and preparing to ship stuff home. Not the best of afternoons as we though we only had the 'basics' anyway but something that had to be done before heading off to our next port of call.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/114003854.jpg">
Too much stuff !
Our impressions of Anchorage as a town were for a state capital it seemed very small although it was spread over a large area. Alaska has a population of 500,000 people for which 300,000 live in Anchorage and the suburbs but the town didn't feel that big. It was a friendly place but there was still a feel of a wild outpost underneath which gave the town some atmosphere over a normal city.
After a 3-day vacation in New York seeing the sights (Traveling is our job now, so we need to start it fresh!!!), we hit our start point and first impression of the US.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/114002728.jpg">
Alaska from the sky.
The first thing that struck us was that people were much friendlier than in the UK but spoke so slowly. We found it hard to be understood, South East London accents aside, as we were speaking too fast. When we did try and speak slower it sounded really condescending, in our head and to each other, and we were expecting to be thumped at any moment. Fortunately everyone we spoke to didn't think we were! Wheew!!!
On the plane to Anchorage we sat next to Brian, a US Airforceman, based in Anchorage. He was a great help on places to go and see in Anchorage, which made the whole orientation much easier. As we could not pick up the bikes from Fed-Ex on Saturday as originally planned, we took up his suggestion of visiting Humpy's bar in Downtown Anchorage. This turned out to be a great recommendation as we both had a good night in here. There were some 40 + beers on tap and Live music. The music was supplied by a band of First Nation guys playing reggae, which even to our multicultural London eyes was something to be seen! We stayed there until the early hours in the morning and rolled out into brilliant sunshine! (This time of year it's dark for about an hour.)
After the big night out we needed a proper breakfast. Fortunately we were based near in infamous, we'll it is in Anchorage, Hogg Brothers Cafe which sold heart stopper breakfasts (Home fries and Cheese with everything!) for just a few dollars. This fortified us for the day and again the next day.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/114073183.jpg">
The 'Infamous' Hogg Brothers' !
With the delay in getting the bikes and for the ongoing trip budget we had to look to a cheaper option for a place to stay. The Anchor Inn in downtown Anchorage suitably filled this. We were able to get a much larger room for a fraction of the price. It was fortunate that both of us like dogs as the room came with scent of Eau de Labrador. But apart from that it was fine place to base ourselves until we were ready to move on.
Our time during the days here were mainly spent trying to tidy up admin issues from home as we had run out of time before we left. Thank heavens for the Internet and E-mail! How did anyone travel before this!
When we shipped our bikes from the UK we packed as much as we could at the time onto the bikes but we were unable to pack everything. So when we got the bikes back from Fex-Ex, this was the first time we could see everything and as hard as we thought we were being, there was way too much luggage so an afternoon was spent repacking and preparing to ship stuff home. Not the best of afternoons as we though we only had the 'basics' anyway but something that had to be done before heading off to our next port of call.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/114003854.jpg">
Too much stuff !
Our impressions of Anchorage as a town were for a state capital it seemed very small although it was spread over a large area. Alaska has a population of 500,000 people for which 300,000 live in Anchorage and the suburbs but the town didn't feel that big. It was a friendly place but there was still a feel of a wild outpost underneath which gave the town some atmosphere over a normal city.
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