"The Last Blue Whale"
Statue of Captain James Cook
Day 14: Thursday, August 3, 2006
More of Anchorage then Back to Austin
For our morning nourishment we took advantage once again of the continental breakfast at the Copper Whale. Then we explored downtown Anchorage a bit more and wanted to catch a guided tour of the city at 1:00 PM. When we got to our meeting place, there was a note posted that announced the cancellation of the tour. Lucky for us, our Frommer's Guide had a walking tour all laid out for us.
We set out on our own learning about many of Anchorage's landmarks. Most notable was a piece of artwork called "The Last Blue Whale" and a monument dedicated to Captain James Cook. We stopped about half-way through our self-guided tour to check out the Alaska Experience Theater. Playing at the time was a 45 minute documentary about Alaska called "The Great Land". The screen that the movie was shown on was IMAX-style, but wrapped around the audience for a truly 3D effect. The experience would have been spectacular had the documentary not been made some time in the late '60s. The film was grainy and the sound was bad, but we got the idea. After visiting the theater, we continued our tour of downtown.
After our walking tour, we went and had a couple more beers at the Glacier Brewhouse (our second visit) then walked over to the "West End Block Party." The Downtown Anchorage Alliance had taken over the block where our hotel was located and provided music and food for anyone that wanted to come by.
We had a couple of hours to kill so we hung out at the party until our cab arrived.
We caught the cab to the airport and boarded our plane bound for Chicago at 9:49 PM. We arrived back in Austin on Friday exhausted from the flight but happy to have made it home.