A quiet day today. We closed up the cabin and drove down the mountain, back to hot water and air conditioning. En route, we stopped at McHugh Creek, which was a childhood favourite picnic spot for Amy, and had a brief walk, before getting back to The Hicks house and it's welcoming washing machine.
Flickr photos are here.
Since we start a new four day road trip tomorrow, laundry had to be turned round quick, so while Linda monopolised the Hick's machine, while Ryan took Natalie to his mum's to wash the Warren's clothes - and their daughter. While the restful 'do nothing' approach to the day was welcome, we slowly came to realise that not only had Tom endured cereal for both breakfast and lunch, but then had to have oatmeal at 6 o'clock in order to take his medication, and we felt it was time to let his desires determine our dinner choice. After some discussion, we settled on the Sourdough Mining Company, which is mentioned in all the guidebooks and was on Amy's list of eating places.
I looked at some reviews on the internet later, and determined that these favourable reviews must have been written by the owners to entice unsuspecting tourists. It was dreadful. A mock mining presentation, with faux lumberjack furniture, absentee waiting staff, food that was not only awful but hideously overpriced. Tina and Ryan both mentioned the 'tourist trap' nature of the place, catering to bus loads of camera-toting tourists and with no obvious incentive to win repeat business. Luckily the ice cream machine was working - it was the only thing in the place that was. It's a shame, because most of the food we have eaten so far has either been very high quality, or else wholesome and great value, and in some cases both.
After dinner, Jake took us round Lake Hood and Lake Spenard. This is the largest and busiest seaplane base in the world. As we drove round we saw hundreds - no, thousands of seaplanes and light aircraft, which are a fundamental part of getting around in Alaska, and second nature to the people who live. Testament to this, Jake is a heart-on-his-sleeve enthusiast of everything aviation - he is a captain/pilot for Southwest Airlines and obviously loves planes and flying. And to some extent, planes are so fundamental that people treat them like cars - well, they take a LOT better care of them, but Jake talks proudly and warmly of the 3 (yes, three) planes owned by his father, and got very concerned when he found that one was not in it's usual parking space. Though it was late, and the sun was lowering, we were lucky enough to see a float plane come in and land on the water while we were there.
Comments