Our last day in Alaska was back in Anchorage as a full-circle moment for the trip itself. The extra 24-ish hours in Anchorage allowed us to do some things we’d thought about doing on the first day but hadn’t had time.
Our flight out was at 11:59 PM on that last day, so we really weren’t pressed for time. With that much flexibility, we started the day with a restaurant called Snow City Cafe, which had been recommended by people we knew, strangers on the street, and travel books alike. We grabbed a great breakfast, including their signature cinnamon rolls.
After breakfast, we found ways to fill our time based on each individual’s go-to sightseeing options. First, we stopped by the University of Alaska, Anchorage, so that I could see the campus and get a picture with the sign.
Next, we walked through a few parks, past a few lakes, to get to Mom’s choice, the local Botanic Gardens. The gardens were a pleasant surprise, showcasing local plants, offering a few short nature walks (swarming with mosquitos, but we’d avoided them pretty well thus far), and a wild porcupine who we randomly ran across.
From there, we grabbed lunch before heading to the Anchorage Zoo. My family is a big fan of zoos as educational spaces to support animal health, rehabilitation, and conservation. Although not the most impressive zoo we’d ever been to, it was very cool to see a zoo filled with local Alaskan animals. The zoo boasted orphaned brown bear cubs and orphaned moose calves that would not survive alone in the wild, as well as numerous other Alaskan-native species. We saw brown bears, black bears, harbor seals, moose, caribou, eagles, owls, and arctic foxes, among other animals, learning about them and their natural habitats.
Finally, we headed back to the center of town, getting dropped off by our taxi back at the visitor’s center. Mom had a few gifts she wanted to buy, so we spent a bit of time shopping. Then, by accident, we stumbled onto the exhibits at the local Public Lands Information Center. This included information about Alaskan National Parks, history, animals, biomes, and more. We only had about half an hour to explore the center, but it was such a pleasant surprise that even half an hour was exciting and enough for us to take in a lot of new information.
We walked to dinner at Simon and Seaforth’s, a fancy restaurant looking out onto the mud flats on the south-west side of the city. After dinner, we took a quick walk down to get a better view of the mudflats before grabbing our luggage from the hotel and heading out to the airport.
A few hours later, we were on our red-eye flight back to Chicago, having successfully toured state number 49!
WANDERING 