Alaska: Anchorage: July 2017

We woke up with one more excursion to go on before heading back to Anchorage. I wish I could remember the name of the company we went with because as simple as it was this was one of my favorite excursions. We booked a UTV adventure; these were six seater utility terrain vehicles. The guides were local, down to earth guys. They took us on paths through the national forest and told us about the different plants: what was helpful, what was poisonous (pretty much all the purple plants), and that the top flowers on the fireweed plant bloom six week before the first snows. Both men knew bears frequented the area and both carried large pistol just in case. They told us about the hunting and baiting regulations for bear and the regulations that had to be followed once on was harvested.

I enjoyed this excursions because it was simpler than all that we had done before, we were exploring the land with local guides. We stopped on the edge of a river and on the sandy shores they showed us green and red pieces of jade – which is the official gemstone of Alaska. After the excursions it was back to the Princess Lodge and then onto another bus to take us to Anchorage. Luckily we had a fantastic bus driver who told us about this awesome place to stop and get ice cream on the road to Anchorage. He took a vote and most of us wanted to stop in for ice cream. I tried the huckleberry.

In Anchorage we stayed at the Hotel Captain Hook. This was Lana, Steve, Ty and Allie’s last night in Alaska. Early the next morning they would be on a plane back to Texas. The remaining six of us: Baba, Papa, Brooke, Mom, Drew, and myself would be on a float plane to Northwoods Lodge to do some fishing. Not wanting to waste our last night together Brooke and I went looking at a place for dinner that had room for ten. The first place we tried was the Glacier Brewhouse but they were swamped. So we ended up at Fletcher’s in the  Hotel Captain Cook. At the bar I had found a beer that made it into my top five. And it makes me sad that it is not available it Texas. Made by the Iron Horse Brewery, it is called Irish Death.

This is where I truly discovered the problem with craft beer. You cannot get it where you live unless the brewery is local. If anyone does know how to get Irish Death to Texas you would be my hero. Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts both on Anchorage and craft beer. Have a great rest of your week.