Day Eight - farewell Best Western, Hello Lakefront Anchorage

This morning was another cold one, minus 20 degrees.
I schlepped all my gear out to the car, it seems to have doubled though I've bought almost nothing. I walked the long hallway of the Best Western Golden Lion for the final time and checked out.  Even though the car was clear of snow and ice when I left it last night, ice had formed on all the windows, and I had to run the car for about 10 minutes to get the heater warm enough to melt the ice on the windscreen so I could see.

Yep, can't drive very well like this.

Today I am meeting up with the rest of the tour group, and my room-mate Belinda, who I roomed with on the Polar Bear trip is arriving the morning, so I'm meeting her at the airport.

She arrived on time, and Alaska Airline's guarantee to have your luggage on the carousel within 20 minutes was observed, and we headed off to explore.  For lack of a better plan, we retraced my steps from yesterday, and headed down the Turnagain Arm, though this time we went a little further into the heart of the Chugach mountains.  Lots of very deep snow everywhere, and it was as pretty as a picture.  I needed a toilet stop, and Belinda had spotted some "facilities" just off the road.

It was effectively a long drop.  With a door that wouldn't shut.  It was a fast pee.

Wins a prize for most picturesque setting, but loses points for lack of privacy.

The door was wedged open by ice on the ground.

The snow was so deep and soft getting into the loo that sunk up to my knees in the snow, soaking my jeans.  I had to strip off in the parking lot and change into dry pants, and hang my jeans off the head rest to dry out.  I was wearing long johns under my jeans, so it was all done with modesty intact.

We headed back towards Anchorage and filled up with gas - and I learned a new trick to get around the pay-at-pump-post-code-required debacle.  When prompted for the post code, B suggested I try 90210 (as in Beverly Hills) and it worked !!!

By the time we got back to Anchorage it was about 1pm so we decided to try our luck at the Hotel to see if we could check in.  We could, so we schlepped our luggage in to the room.  It's a good size, with a view out over Lake Hood, which is of course covered in deep snow. It is the largest and busiest seaplane base in the world, with 250 planes landing each day in summer.

We headed into town to find a lunch spot and for B to have a quick nosey at Downtown Anchorage.  She agreed with my assessment, that it is a bit rundown.

By now it was time to return the rental car, and after cocking up with Google maps and selecting a Coffee Mart rather than a gas station (don't ask) which resulted in a couple of laps of Ted Stevens International Airport, and a return trip to exactly where we had come from (don't ask) the car was safely returned with the required full tank of gas, and not a scratch or dent.  Phew !!!

While we were at the airport, we caught the northern lights !

Northern Lighting effect, leading the way from rental car returns to the airport terminal.

I shouldn't joke, they are predicting more heavy snow in the next couple of days, so we will be lucky to see them at this rate.

We then caught the free Hotel shuttle back to the hotel and veged out until it was time for dinner.

Bison meatloaf for me, I was very hungry and it was delicious !

Bison meatloaf - real food with veges and everything!

We are all meeting tomorrow for breakfast at 7.30am, no more slothing about until 10am !