It was light outside ALL night!  How crazy is that!?  Jonna woke up several times to "check" and while the sun was down near the horizon by 3 AM, it never went away and stayed light enough to read a newspaper outside all night long!  (In fact, an interesting side note to this -- Alaska does not typically have 4th of July fireworks, so instead they often have a mid-winter fireworks show!)  Surely this solar abnormality must mess with Alaskan's psyche in the summertime (and likewise in the wintertime when it is dark 24 X 7).  Anyway, today we got going early and grabbed some breakfast on the concierge level at the Downtown Hilton.  This is another great perk of traveling for work -- not only do we get free rooms via frequent business points, but then they feed you and your whole family when you come!  After breakfast, we headed over to explore the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, which was recently renovated.  We started by watching a film called Alaska's Grizzlies and got excited about what we will hopefully see later on in the trip when we travel to the rural areas of the state.  From there, we meandered through the extensive gallery which detailed the history of Alaska and contained information about the native peoples, the gold rush, gaining statehood, the major earthquake of 1964, the Alaskan Pipeline, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and various other milestones of the state.  It was a great way to start our time in Alaska.  While Mark and Grayson took a short break, Darby and Jonna explored the art gallery, also housed in the museum, which featured artwork of Alaska and by Alaskans. 

After a delightful morning at the museum, we headed to Downtown Bike Rentals on 4th Avenue to rent some bikes.  We met up with the owner, Peter, who we had traded many emails with before the trip, and he had tons of bikes to choose from.  He outfitted all four of us with bikes, helmets, locks, and waters and we set out.  He was awesome to deal with and we'd highly recommend him if your travels bring you here.  Today was another perfect weather day -- 73 degrees and clear and sunny with no humidity.  We decided to bike the Tony Knowles Coastal Bike Trail, as it is an 11 mile paved trail that runs along the water.  It is the most famous trail in Anchorage and we didn't want to miss it.   Peter showed us a loop to do so that we wouldn't ride back the same way.  All in all, we did a 22-24 mile trip that was very scenic along the waterfront and through dense forests.  We were pretty tired at the conclusion and decided to call it a day.  We have had a very active trip so far and we needed a little downtime tonight.  We grabbed some dinner in the hotel and took it easy.  We have another big bike ride planned for tomorrow morning!

This morning we set out again on the bikes after a quick breakfast at the hotel.  Today's ride was a little more tame (i.e. flat) then yesterday's as we navigated to the Chester Creek Trail and joined up with it at 15th and E streets.  The trails here are so well-kept and beautiful.  Many of them double as cross country ski trails throughout the winter making them accessible 12 months of the year.  We followed the trail over to The University of Alaska Anchorage campus.  The campus in Anchorage is relatively small compared with the University's main campus in Fairbanks, but it was fun to see it.  We had wanted to visit the bookstore, but it was closed Thursday and Friday for the 4th of July holiday weekend. We continued the loop and ended up at the New Sagaya market on the corner of 13th and I streets where we enjoyed a bit of lunch.  By then it was time to return the bikes -- because they were due back but moreover because our hind quarters had had enough riding during the prior 2-day period!  What a great way to see Anchorage though!  Interestingly enough, many people told us to skip Anchorage as it wasn't worth seeing.  We disagree.  While it does not have the beauty of a city like Seattle, the city holds its own charm and on the bikes we were able to get a great feel for it.

After returning the bikes, we caught a shuttle bus downtown that took us to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  This interactive museum features five villages with native guides ready and willing to share the customs of each of their native Alaskan tribes and how they lived.   We visited the Athabascan, the Yupik/Cupik, the Inupiaq, the Unangax/Sugpiaq, and the Eyak/Tlinget/Haida/Tsimshian villages and learned so much about the native Alaskan tribes.   We never realized how differently each of these tribes lived and survived in the Alaskan climate.   After touring each of the villages, we enjoyed a dance performance by local high school students that study native dance each day after school at the center.  They did dances from each of the different tribes and it was good to see the young people interested in learning more about their heritage.  In the Hall of Cultures, we learned about how many of the native customs disappeared as white settlers occupied Alaska, statehood was granted, and thus children went to school and learned western ways.  There is an effort underway now to help the young native Alaskans learn more about their roots and ancient customs and languages of the tribes.  It was a great place to visit and we all left feeling a lot more educated on the heritage of Alaska.

A few fun facts we learned about Alaska today:

• Alaska is by far the largest US state.  In fact, if you cut Alaska in half, each half would still be larger than Texas.
• Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state in the USA!   It is easternmost because it crosses the International Date Line on the western tip of the Aleutian Island chain, which spans 1,300 miles.
• There is one bear per square mile on Kodiak Island - 5,000 bears in all.  There, the bear population far exceeds the human population.
• Juneau is the only capital in the US that cannot be reached by road.  To access Juneau from the rest of the state you need a plane or a boat!

After enjoying some hors d'oeuvres back at the hotel, Mark, Jonna, and Grayson walked down to the Eisenhower State Monument commemorating Alaskan statehood.  Then we walked over to the Ship Creek Viewing Platform.  We had hoped to see salmon swimming upstream in these waters, but unfortunately we are too early in the season.  It was an invigorating walk nonetheless and we saw the Alaskan Railroad up close and waved to Darby from our hotel window.  Her knees were sore after so much biking the last two days so she opted out of our walk in lieu to relaxing back at the room.  Taking full advantage of the endless daylight, we collected Darby around 10 PM and strolled as a family though downtown enjoying the parks and gorgeous flowers before finally calling it a night.  Tomorrow we are scheduled to pick up our RV and head north the Denali National Park!

We were very lucky this morning to learn that our RV would be ready for pick up at 11:15 AM.  Because other people rent and return and the RVs need to be cleaned and serviced, it is not possible to get a specific pickup time until the morning of the pick up.  We quickly ate some breakfast at the Hilton, grabbed a Starbuck's, and headed by taxi over to Great Alaskan Adventures for our RV orientation!  After a 30 minute video teaching us how to use the RV, we piled in and and headed north! 

Click here to see a quick tour of our RV.

Click here to continue July 3 adventures in Denali.