第11-12天, 安克雷奇市內遊覽，Turnagain arm公路, 野生動物保護中心，安克雷奇，Alyeska的滑雪度假村，Portage冰川
快樂不知時日過〜轉眼間已來到行程的最後一天！<由於這是最後一天的關係，文章篇幅會比平常的長一點點。 =）> 對於那些已預訂了早上回航機票的旅客們，在這早上他們便結束了10天的郵輪及陸上假期。我們看到有許多遊客都在等待公主號的穿梭巴士，接送到機場（$14美元，單程）。我們預訂了很晚的回航機票 (晚上11時55分)，所以我們幾乎是多了一整天去探索安克雷奇和其他周邊城市。
我們透過互聯網預定了參觀Portage冰川和野生動物保護中心的一日團. （http://glacierhikesandtours.com/冰川和野生動物探索遊）。旅行社通知我們說導遊會在早上8時正在酒店門口接載我們. 因此，我們在早上6時左右起床，打算在早上7點左右吃早餐。我心想, 早上7時這麼早, 應該沒有很多人吧〜錯了！當我們到達餐廳時，snow city café已擠滿了人, 還說要等30至40分鐘才能安排我們入坐。我們知道若果我們真的等候入坐再 加上等待食物的時間，我們必定趕不上於8時前回到酒店。幸運的是，餐廳外面有餐桌. 我們點了外賣而 30分鐘後，我們便享用著snow city scramble（$ 11.95美元）和Kodiak benedict（$ 12.95美元）（Snow City Cafe的官方網站：http://www.snowcitycafe.com / menu.html）
我們在5分鐘內從Snow City Café走回酒店，在同一時間，Ben也剛剛抵達。由於其他客人未能在今天出席，所以我們有一個度身設計的旅遊路程。Ben跟隨安克雷奇遊覽車的路線帶我們遊覽安克雷奇的境點, 例如機場，地震公園，市中心，遊客中心，政府辦公大樓，“睡美人”等等. 當我聽到“睡美人”時, 我的臉上也有一個很大的問號，“睡美人”是一個民間傳說關於一位年輕的印第安女孩. 長話短說，女孩為了等待她的未婚夫回來而很多晚也沒有睡; 終於，她因為太累而睡著了。在她熟睡的時候, 噩耗傳來--他的未婚夫在試圖和 “那武裝了的白人男人”談判議和時, 不幸地被殺害。 村民得知消息後,每個人都不想叫醒她或告訴她真相. 因此，每個人都讓她睡, 不敢打攪她. 因此, 她便成為了沉睡的安克雷奇“睡美人”了.遊覽過安克雷奇市後，我們便沿著Turnagain Arm公路來到Alyeska滑雪會所。Ben告訴我們說由於天氣惡劣的關係，今天無法乘搭小輪遊覽Portage冰川，因此行程改為乘坐纜車到滑雪勝地遊覽。Cooks船長和他的船員在航海時代發現了Turnagain Arm。Turnagain Arm是一個極受好評,風景優美的高速公路. 在天朗氣清的日子裡可看到大角羊，白頭鷹和野生動物的蹤影。 （世上最優越的駕車之旅：http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/seward-highway-alaska-road-trip/）。 我們在途中停站休息，喝了山上來的自來水，為州的代表寶石：玉，拍了照，然後我們到達Alyeska滑雪度假村。 （http://www.alyeskaresort.com/）
當我們到達滑雪度假村時, Ben便給我們一個任務,他說：“你們要找出Oasik是什麼; 當你們知道答案後，我便會把纜車車票給你們。”我們一進入度假村, 我們便到禮品店, 大廳, 售票處, 禮賓服務…等等. 每次我們看到員工都會問同一個問題 “什麼是Oasik?” 這并不是一個普通的東西呢！至少暫時沒有我曾問過的員工知道它是什麼。Ben看到我們跑來跑去後便給我們一個提示，他說：“你們去問問門口那兩位男生吧~或許他們會知道Oasik是什麼”。於是，我便走向那兩位男生並問什麼是Oasik。 “Oasik是那已經絕種的海象的陰莖骨化石”那兩位男生說. “什麼？什~麼？“ - 我高聲叫道。他們更向我展示放在大廳的Oasik展覽品。它像一支很長的象牙“大棒” - “我完全無法相信這是一個陰莖”我心想。由於它是已滅絕的動物的身體一部份，Oasik的買賣市場可以標價至8000美元一支。
我們終於拿到纜車車票了！我們趕快乘搭風景纜車去山頂觀光。沿途我們看到了駝鹿，Turnagain Arm，多不勝數英畝的森林和冰雪！將近六月了，山的頂部還是下著雪的。我們走到觀景台去觀賞山脈和冰川的全景。然後，我們去觀景台延伸出來的小茅屋---這是一個禮品店及阿拉斯加早期歷史博物館。有些人乘搭電梯到山頂滑雪, 我們則乘搭纜車下山. 到達度假村酒店大堂後我們便為美麗的裝潢設計拍照留念. 接著,我們便向Turnagain Arm高速公路的南部部分出發。
離Alyeska滑雪度假村不遠就是阿拉斯加野生動物保護中心（http://www.alaskawildlife.org/）我們到那邊去探訪那些“被救的原居民”。我們只想確保在回LA前，我們能看到阿拉斯加的動物; 因此，我們要求Ben帶我們去AWCC。 我們看到了熊：黑色，棕色和灰熊，駝鹿，鷹，貓頭鷹，駝鹿，麝香牛，木野牛，豪豬，錫特卡黑尾鹿，馴鹿，猞猁等. 能夠看到和了解那些冬天的動物,實在是令人興奮。
跟動物們說”拜拜”後, 我們便開車到Portage冰川 - 這原本是我們的最初計劃: 乘坐渡輪到冰川前，在非常近的距離拍照。不幸的是，由於今年安克雷奇創了最多降雪量的紀錄; 海面還是處於凍結狀態,而渡輪亦被卡住了。我聽說渡輪會航使到非常接近藍色冰川的距離，人們看到冰川裂開時都會“哇-及-呀~”的。在回來安克雷奇市的路上，我們在Ben的朋友開的雕刻店停了下來。當Ben在選購藝術雕塑時，我們則為獨特的雕塑拍照及跟雪撬狗玩。 Ben說，這位雕刻大師（忘了他的名字〜對不起）贏得了國際性的雕刻比賽，目前是阿拉斯加最好的雕刻木匠.
用膳後，我們到北極熊禮品店Polar Bear gift shop購買紀念品。當然，我們買了鮭魚肉乾和馴鹿香腸作手信。如果我們能先停在機場的遊客中心檢閱優惠券，我們將能拿到Polar Bear gift shop北極熊商店的九折優惠券。接著，我們便參觀市中心及聯邦大樓，然後回Captain Cooks酒店拿取行李。 我們由酒店走向公車交會處前（G街與第六大道交界）乘搭巴士前往機場（$1.75美元單程）。我們乘搭6時45 分那班次的7號巴士, 由安克雷奇市中心到機場候機大樓。我們請求巴士司機當我們接近機場北面候機大樓時, 勞煩他提醒我們要下車. 在25分鐘後他便提醒了我們。我們登記入閘，並購買了晚餐。由於阿拉斯加的白天在夏季時會特別長, 我們還是第一次看到黃昏日落。 看到了夕陽, 也代表著我們的旅程亦在此完滿結束。
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Day 11-12 Anchorage, Turnagain Arm, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, Alyeska ski resort
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| Anchorage Map |
Time flies~ here comes the last day of the trip! Since it’s the last day, the blog is a little bit longer than usual. =) For those who have booked an early flight, the 10 days cruise + cruise tour ended this morning. I saw a big group of tourists were waiting for the Princess shuttle bus for airport transfer ($14 US dollar, one way). We booked a very late flight (11:55 PM tonight) so we had almost a more day to explore Anchorage and the cities around it.
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| Snow City Cafe |
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| Snow City Cafe Menu |
We booked a local tour via internet ( http://glacierhikesandtours.com/ Glacier & Wildlife explore tour) to visit the Portage glacier and wildlife conservation center. We were told that Ben, the tour guide, would pick us up at 8AM at the hotel entrance; thus, we woke up around 6AM and had breakfast around 7 AM. I thought 7AM was early enough to beat the crowd~WRONG! When we arrived the snow city cafe, it was packed and the expected wait for a table was anything between 30 to 40 minutes. We knew we won’t make it if we were going to wait for a table and plus the time we would wait for the food. We ordered To-Go instead. Luckily, there were tables outside of the cafe and after 30 minutes, we were enjoying our snow city scramble ($11.95 US dollar) and Kodiak benedict ($12.95 US dollar) (Snow City Cafe Offical Website: http://www.snowcitycafe.com/menu.html)
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| Snow City Scramble ($11.95 USD) |
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| Kodiak Benedict ($12.95 USD) |
In 5 minutes, we walked back from the cafe to the hotel and Ben has just arrived at the same time. Since the other group of guests weren’t able to make it today, we were going to have a private tour designed for 2 of us. Ben followed the Anchorage trolley route to show us around: Anchorage airport, earthquake park, downtown, visitor centers, federal buildings, the “sleeping beauty” etc. I had a big question mark on my face when Ben mentioned that the mountain right across is called “sleeping beauty”. It was a folktale about a young native American Indian girl and to make the long story short, the girl was waiting for her fiance to come back and she stayed up all night to wait for him. She didn’t sleep for so many nights that finally she was too tired and fell asleep. Bad news came back while she was sleeping-- her fiance was killed while he was trying to negotiate peace with the “armed White men”. Everyone in the village didn’t want to wake her up and tell her the truth; thus, everyone just let her sleep and she has become the sleeping lady in Anchorage.
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| The "Sleeping Beauty"- can you see the head on the Lt and the rest is the body? |
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| Turnagain Arm |
After the Anchorage city tour, we drove down through the Turnagain Arm to the Alyeska ski resort. We were told that due to bad weather, instead of taking the ferry to Portage glacier, we were going to take a tram at the ski resort. Turnagain Arm was discovered by captain Cooks and his crews. It is a top rated scenic drive and on a good day, dall sheeps, bald eagles and wild lives can be spotted. (World greatest driving tour: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/seward-highway-alaska-road-trip/). We made several stops for pictures, tasted the water from the mountain, took pictures with the state Gem: jade, and then we arrived the Alyeska ski resort. (http://www.alyeskaresort.com/)
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| The Northern light and Polar bear |
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| Polar Bear |
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| Polar Bear |
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| Aurora (man-made ^^) |
Ben gave us a mission when we arrived the resort: “find out what is an Oasik and I will give you the tram ticket once you know the answer.” said Ben. So we asked every staff we saw in the gift shop, lobby, ticket booth, concierge, etc. It’s not a common object! At least none of the people I asked knew what it is. Ben gave us a hint after he saw us running around: “ask that 2 guys by the door”. So I went up to them and ask what is an Oasik. “An Oasik is a fossilized penis bone from an extinct walrus.” “WHAT?? A What??”-- I raised my voice. Then they showed me the Oasik displayed in the lobby. Its a long and ivory looking “stick”-- “ can’t believe this is a penis” I thought. Since it’s an extinct animal, the Oasik could be marked as high as $8000 US dollars a piece.
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| Oasik |
We got the tram ticket (finally!!) and we took the scenic ride to the upper tram terminal. On our way up there, we saw a moose, Turnagain Arm, a zillion acre of forest and snow!! It was almost June and still snowing in the upper part of the mountain. We went to the observation deck to see the panoramic view of the nearby mountains and glaciers. We then went to the little hut extended from the observation deck--- it’s a gift shop/ museum of early Alaska. There were people taking the lift up to the upper part of the mountain to ski. We took the same tram down and took pictures of the beautiful resorts, then we head down to the southern part of the Turnagain Arm highway.
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| Alyeska Ski Resort |
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| Alyeska Ski Resort |
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| Little gift shop/Museum |
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| Blue glacier |
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| Lift to the upper part of the Mt for Skiing |
After a short drive (right before the Portage Glacier), we arrived the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (http://www.alaskawildlife.org/) to visit the “rescued natives”. We just wanted to make sure that we saw most of the Alaskan animal before we head back to LA, thus, we asked Ben to take us to AWCC. We saw bears: black, brown and grizzly bears; moose; eagles, owls, elk, musk oxen, wood bison, porcupine, sitka black-tailed deer, caribou, lynx, etc. I felt excited to see and learned about those winter animals.
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| Black bear |
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| Brown bears |
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| Moose |
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| Wood Bison |
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| Caribou? |
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| Sitka Black-Tailed Deer |
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| Mush Oxen |
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| Bald eagle |
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| Owl |
Then we drove down to the Portage glacier-- which was our original plan to take a ferry and had a close-up view of the glacier. Unfortunately, since Anchorage had a record-high amount of snow this year, the sea was still in freeze and the ferry was stuck. I heard that the ferry would sail very close to the blue glacier and people would go “whoo-&-Ahhs” when the glacier calved. On our way back to Anchorage, we stopped by a wood-sculpture store which is owned by a friend of Ben. While Ben was trying to buy a piece of the art, we were having fun with the husky and taking pictures of the unique sculptures. Ben said this sculpting master (forgot his name~sorry) has won the competition and currently the best sculpting carpenter in Alaska.
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| Frozen sea surface |
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| Alaska Sculpture Champion's Mansion |
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| Wood Sculpture |
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| Wood Sculpture |
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| Wood Sculpture |
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| Friendly husky |
After the sculpture business, we drove back to Anchorage. Couldn’t believe that it was almost 3PM. Time flew faster when we were having a good time. Ben recommended places to eat, shop for souvenir, and places to kill time. We had a late-lunch-early-dinner at F Street-Station. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/f-street-station-anchorage) We ordered a special of the day: blackened shrimp sandwich with shrimp gumbo and a grilled halibut sandwich with shrimp gumbo. The price was very reasonable and the food were great. I think Man vs Food should come and try the food here.
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| F-Street Station |
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| Shrimp Gumbo |
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| Grilled Halibut Sandwich |
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| Blacken Shrimp Sandich |
After late-lunch/early dinner, we went to Polar Bear gift shop for souvenir. Of course we got the salmon jerky and reindeer sausage for gifts. And if we were able to stop by the visitor center at the airport, we would be able to pick up the 10% off coupon of the Polar Bear store. We then toured around the downtown and federal buildings before we picked up the luggage from Captain Cooks hotel. We walked toward the bus stop right in front of the People Mover Transit (G street cross with 6th Ave) to catch the bus going to the airport. We took the 6:45 PM outbound bus # 7 from downtown Anchorage to airport terminal ($1.75 US dollar one way). We asked the bus driver to alert us when we came close to the north airport terminal and so he did after 25 minutes. We checked in and bought our dinner. We saw the dusk for the first time due to the super long daytime during summer in Alaska. Our journey had come to the end with the sunset.
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