Anchorage, Day 2

I am happy to report that the bed was very comfortable to sleep in.  It was just uncomfortable to sit on.  Today started with light rain.  We decided to go to the Alaska Zoo anyway.  It stopped raining after we had been there about 15 minutes.  It is larger than the Greenville Zoo but nowhere near the size of the NC Zoo.  There were a lot of different birds, including two golden eagles.  We saw black bears, brown bears, and polar bears.  There were Dall sheep so we got to see them up close.  There were harbor seals and river otters, moose, including three young ones, musk ox, yak, alpaca, red fox, coyote, and other animals.  Most of the animals had been injured or had been pets when young and could no longer survive in the wild.  They have a program to release animals born there to the wild, if possible.  We enjoyed our time there. 

We also spent some time at Earthquake Park.  On March 27, 1964, a 9.2 earthquake hit Anchorage.  The earthquake triggered a tsunami in Valdez, Seward, Kodiak, Chenega and other communities.  Where the park now is, there was a residential area and some of the fatalities occurred there.  The state would not allow any new structures to be built in that area so it was turned into a park in memory of those who died.  The earth separated and one side dropped about 11 feet.  Between the earthquake and the tsunami, 139 people died.  I’m including a picture showing a school after the quake. 

We went to the AAA office to get new information since we decided to change our route home.  The lady we were talking to said she would route us home through the Cassiar Mountains if we insisted but she certainly didn’t recommend it.  She said the road is much worse than the Alaskan Highway and heavy logging trucks use it all the time.  So she is routing us home back down the Alaskan Highway but a different route after the highway ends through Canada to Glacier National Park.  I dread having to go back over that road with all the construction stops.  The only good thing about it is we will get to stay at the cabins and at the motel with the beautiful dining room view.  Reservations are made at both.  We got the last cabin available.

The seals were chasing each other.  It was hard to get a picture because they were moving so much.

River otters

One of the zoo employees was carrying this merlin around greeting people.

It appeared to be nap time at the zoo.  Many of the animals were asleep.

Black bear.  This is the way Danny looks about 5 minutes after I start driving, head down and asleep.

The coyote was playing hide and seek.

Dall sheep

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?  It looked like he had made himself a recliner.

Alpaca

The entrance from parking to Earthquake Park.

This is the fault line where the earth dropped 11 feet.  Although forest now, there is a distinct drop.

On a sign in the park

A picture taken from the internet of an elementary school.  Fortunately school was not in session at the time of the quake.  In this picture, it is easy to see the drop.

The waters were calm today.