Rain, rain, go away...

After an early 6am departure from Hartford, we arrived in Anchorage just before noon. Our first view of the city through the airport windows showed a lovely, sunny day over a city surrounded by mountains. We caught a taxi from the airport, and our taxi driver perfectly fit the "Alaska Mountain Man" stereotype with his long, wavy, salt and pepper hair, full beard and flannel shirt. All he needed was the Carharts to make the stereotype compete. :) Our driver nicely pointed out one of the bike paths that we could ride through the forests around the city (there are over 100 miles of bike paths in Anchorage!) We decided to spend the rest of the day on the bike paths, after our first order of business - a much needed nap!

We checked in to City Garden B&B. Our room was LOVELY with well over a dozen orchids, mostly in bloom, a little succulent garden and huge ficus tree in the mini solarium beside the bed. It is located on the park strip, which is a long park between 9th and 10th ave that originally was Anchorage's first air strip. Now it is a several blocks long strip of grass housing a soccer field, sand volleyball, tennis courts, a veterans' memorial and more. We decided to take an hour nap to help us adjust to the four hour time difference and be able to stay up later, and also to give us energy to do a bike ride. Unfortunately, an hour later the sunny Anchorage skies had clouded up and it was raining in a steady drizzle; it was not longer the best weather for a bike ride. Instead, we grabbed our umbrellas and walked into the downtown area to have some coffee and a snack at Kaladi Brothers Coffee. The rain showed no sign of letting up, so we passed the time until our dinner reservation by doing a little wandering around 5th and 6th Aves, the main shopping strip of Anchorage, which was filled with kitschy tourist shops selling t shirts, little wooden totems and tons of variations on the famous Alaska Ulu knife. Gavin and I bought some rain gear, since according to the forecast we will have rainy weather for our entire two weeks here...

Having exhausted our short-lived interest in shopping, we went to our dinner restaurant, Simon and Seafort's Saloon and Grill, which had been recommended by both by our bed and breakfast host and our Lonely Planet. We arrived an hour early for our reservation, so we sat in the saloon and had a couple drinks. The view from the restaurant overlooks the water of Knik Arm and supposedly Mount Susitna, Anchorage's active volcano, also called "The Sleeping Lady." The fog was so thick we could barely see the water, much less the volcano. It cleared a bit, and the most we could see was the very base of the volcano.

A panorama of the Simon and Seafort's Saloon. I am holding the highlight of my meal - a lavender cosmo. :)

We moved to the dining room for dinner, and both of us were excited to try fresh, wild-caught Alaska salmon. I ordered sesame crusted salmon, and Gavin ordered curried salmon. Both were specials of the day, and both were highly disappointing. I am definitely spoiled by how nicely Gavin cooks salmon, but both the salmon and vegetables were overcooked in both of our dishes. My sesame crusted salmon had a lot of sugar in the sauce, which completely overpowered the taste of the salmon, and it came with deep fat fried balls of fried rice (deep fat fried fried rice - sounds like a State Fair food...) with reindeer sausage, the only saving grace of which was that now I can say I have tried reindeer meat and put another check on my "animals I have eaten" list.* Gavin's vegetables were a puree of squash and carrots that could have been mistaken for something from a Gerber baby food jar...

After dinner we wandered back to the mall to pick up some waterproof shoes that Gavin had been coveting, especially after walking around with damp feet the entire evening. Then we walked back to our B&B, hand in hand in the rain... :)

*I don't really have an "animals I have eaten" list. But if I did it would include zebra, warthog, kangaroo and more... :)

 

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