Anchorage - Day 6 - The Sights and Sounds of Alaska

After breakfast I packed my room, checked out and headed over to Elmendorf for the last day of class. This group of students has been an exceptionally fun bunch to be with. So I was determined to enjoy every last moment with them.

At lunch Dennis drove me over to the 3rd Wing headquarters building. In front of the building was a memorial. Part of that memorial was a large aviary in which resided three injured bald eagles who are not able to return to the wild. What a treat to see the national bird up close and personal! (See the bald eagles here.) After taking a few pictures with the birds we headed over to the Base Exchange (BX) for lunch.

We wrapped up class and I headed out to the city. My flight wasn't for another 10 hours and there were no seats available on earlier flights. I drove around, looking for a place to have one final dinner in Alaska before heading home. It had to be salmon; what sense would it make to come all the way up here and not have salmon?

Between window shopping and driving around I finally decided to pull into The Sourdough Mining Company. It had all the makings of a tourist trap: The faux mine entrance, the reconstructed dining hall, the Alaska Wild Berry Store and some kind of theme park adjacent. But I went in anyways knowing I could always order salmon.

And I did.

With the salmon I had a dinner salad and some corn fritters, which were like miniature donuts. But the real fun of the meal was Helga, a singing telegram, who delivered her message a few tables over to Jared, the 40-something birthday boy. She was hilarious! Her shtick, singing and general attitude left myself and half the tables in the restaurant laughing out loud at her goings-on. I thought to myself, "Where else have I been where such a spectacle would be tolerated, let alone appreciated?" And quite bluntly, I can't think of anywhere else that would have worked.

And that summarizes the charm of Alaska. This beautiful land is truly The Last Frontier, with its abundance of optimism and can-do spirit. The simplicity of the joys of life combined with the zest for enjoying them is something that speaks to my inner being.

It's a few hours until my plane takes off. Twelve hours later, I'll be back home in Detroit. But a bit of my heart has licked the frozen flagpole of Alaska (and liked it), and will be here long after I'm gone.