Day 27 Saturday, July 26, 2014



Day 27  Saturday, July 26, 2014

While reading a local newspaper at breakfast on Friday, I found out that this very weekend an annual “Big Deal” local event was to take place- the “Arctic Thunder” open house shindig at Anchorage’s own Elmendorf Joint Air Force Base.  I asked around and found three fellow diners at Gwinne’s Restaurant, all enthusiastically approving of the event as more than worthwhile.

The Bev and I overcame some early traffic jamming and found another way into the base and the fun began.  We were thrilled to wander around and in some of the enormous planes on display- a bright yellow 4-engine Canadian Air rescue plane, a Sleath bomber, a mini red helicopter, a gigantic C-5 cargo jet, a hurricane-hunting weather jet for starters.  We tanked up on fish tacos (The Bev) and burgers (Howard) as we watched the stunt pilots utilize the fabulous (again!) weather, firing off endless photos and videos of the action.  The finale was the precision flying of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet fighters, showing off the best that branch of the service has to offer. 

We left a bit early to avoid the crush of traffic exiting Elmendorf Joint Air Base, and made a return trip to the nearby fish hatchery to try for a few more action shots of the fish leaping upstream.  To finish our visit, we visited the Ulu Factory Store, the Anchorage Alaska Railroad Terminal, the Alaska Statehood Monument, and finally a walk to pay homage to the downtown Balto statue.   Balto was the famous lead dog in the team that made the heroic run to Nome, Alaska in 1925, and has an impressive statue in his honor along with a Disney movie to his credit.  Nice.

We headed to a supermarket to buy sandwich provisions and fruit for the Anchorage to Houston and Houston to Philadelphia legs of our journey home on United Airlines.

We drove to the Anchorage Airport to drop off our trusty Alamo rental car and fly home on two pleasant and uneventful 6-hour and 3-hour flights, arriving in Philadelphia mid-afternoon on Sunday.

It was the best month of my life..................