TRAINS & FLYING MACHINES

Our first of several stops around Anchorage yesterday, was the Alaska Railroad Depot & headquarters building.  Located just down the street from our RV park, I needed to check their schedules for a possible train ride in the days ahead,  and the RR gift shop had a few items that I couldn't live without.  So, I left with some free information, and some not so free merchandise.

 The Alaska Railroad headquarters building was constructed during WWII.

Construction of the 470 mile railroad through the wilderness was completed in 1923, just a few years after the Panama Canal was opened for business.  Like the canal project, the Alaska RR was built by the federal government, and in 1985, the state of Alaska purchased the railroad for 22 million. The main line of the railroad runs right past our RV park, and one of the passenger trains was passing by yesterday when I snapped these pictures.

 

Our next stop was the Lake Hood/Spenard seaplane base.  Located next to the international airport, this is the busiest seaplane airport in the world.  With an average of 190 takeoffs and landings every day, it's usually a great place to watch these small planes.  We only stayed for a short while, watching several planes take off, and only one land when we first arrived.

From Lake Hood, we headed to WalMart for a bunch of stuff, including groceries.   When you drive around Anchorage, the sights are the same as they are in any other medium sized U.S. city.  One of our other stops was at the Batteries Plus store, where they had a replacement battery for one of our cell phones. Returning to the motor homes (we had ice cream), I stayed put with a few chores to take care of, and the girls headed off in a never ending search for that perfect quilt/fabric shop.

It was warm yesterday, with temps close to 80.  Many of the RV parks up here are not designed for everyone running their air conditioners, and the voltage on this park was way down.  Our voltage dropped to just above 100, which is not good on things like TV's, computers, refrigerators, etc.  Nancy's Progressive Ind. electrical management system shut her down, and we had to turn everything off except the roof fans.  One more day here in Anchorage, then were headed for Seward on the Kenai Peninsula.

Ship Creek RV park - $44.10  Cumulative - $805.51