End the Day in Anchorage, Alaska

An uneventful flight brought us from the lower 48 to Alaska ... the 49th State ... to begin the next phase of our road trip ... waiting to be reunited with the RV & CR-V, both of which should be at sea even as I write this.

The downtown Avis Office was due to close at 4:00p. Since, rentals during this pandemic seem to be especially difficult to come by, we didn’t want to risk losing our reservation. So, Mui and I hopped in an Uber for the short drive into the city. Good timing ... with no one ahead of us, we completed the paperwork in record time and were soon driving back to the airport to pick up my brother, Deniz, who was scheduled to land a little after we did.

We tend to rent a place if we’re going to be in one spot for more than a day or two ... usually from AirB&B or VRBO or similar. We’ve never been disappointed in our choice of property ... until now. Sure, I was expecting the “charming historic cottage” to be old. But I wasn’t expecting it to be rundown. There is a definite disconnect between the pictures on the two websites and reality. The place is just sad.

No sense dwelling on what we can’t change, so moving on.

After settling in, Mui and Deniz went shopping for provisions. When they got back, we went to dinner. Our favorite restaurant — Orso — is apparently still closed due to the pandemic. Our second favorite — The Brewhouse — had no tables available. Our third favorite — Sacks Café — is apparently closed permanently. So, we ended up going to the iconic “Humpy’s,” an ale house. We each ordered a halibut dish ... a burger (Mui); tacos (Deniz); fish & chips (me). I remember I wasn’t that impressed with Humpy’s when we ate there in 2001. Twenty years later, my impression has not changed.

After dinner, we took advantage of the nice, clear evening to go to Resolution Park to check out the views. We found Mount Susitna — aka Sleeping Lady — napping peacefully. And we even managed to glimpse the tip of the Great One ... Denali. Now, that’s a good way to end our day.Read more