Finishing the story I started here, here, here, here, and here:

On Friday we returned the RV and checked into a hotel. We walked around the nearby airport and rented bikes for 24 hours. I rented one with an electronic assist — I had banged up my knees a bit on the ice and the motor helped even though none of the hills were especially steep.

The city has a decent trail system, especially the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We rode out to Earthquake Park and back before supper.

When we were in Anchorage two years ago we were directed to what I’m sure is the best Italian restaurant in town, Fiori D’italia. It was within walking distance and we made a point of returning to it. I had a halibut parmesan, one of the house specialties that was too yummy for words.

We tooled around the city for a while with a friend-of-a-friend. We visited Alaska Wild Berry Products, home [they claim] of the world’s largest chocolate waterfall. Sadly, it is just for show; no dipping or samples. But they did have free samples available of many of their confections. Yummy.

After returning to our hotel we took a midnight bike ride from the Coastal Trail partway across the Chester Creek Greenbelt. We had time for another brief ride in the morning (in a light drizzling rain) before returning the bikes and heading for the airport.

All in all it was a good trip. Alaska has a rugged beauty that I find very attractive and even a “big city” like Anchorage has a small-town feel to it. The state is so large and I’ve seen just a small part of it, but I’ve had a good variety of activities. This has been just a summary of the trip, of course, and given half a chance I still have stories to tell. Just not today.

Where would you like to go?

Posted by Tim