Day 8, 9 Time to Head Home

One last stop....We spent our last night in Alaska at Cabelas, the chain sporting goods store, in Anchorage...BEAUTIFUL store....they have dry camping slots available, quite a few as a matter of fact, for no charge, so we took advantage of that. Thank you, Cabelas! The grounds outside were gorgeous....

The inside of Cabelas was filled with the usual taxidermy...Two fighting moose as you come in the store, it was a really big store as many Cabelas are...And this fireplace was so fabulous! Checkers games on tables in front of it.. Faux leather sitting chairs...

Eldy made himself right at home....

Need bear spray? Cabelas has it. It's expensive!

There was a terrific Mexican restaurant in the shopping center next to Cabelas..It was called Xalos Mexican Restaurant....Delish! And very pretty inside...The food was excellent!

Norton's Seafood Restaurant at airport

We had a good night's sleep at Cabelas...And were ready to roll the next morning. We had to fill our tanks and come back with everything topped off. We found a Holiday gas station in Anchorage, which accommodated us on everything for no extra charges. Some of the stations provide water to fill your tanks, so we called around first to make sure we could get it all done in one place.  We refueled, dumped our tanks, filled the freshwater tank and gassed up to return the motorhome back to its lot.

After dropping off the motorhome, (sniff, sniff) it was off to the airport.....We had the entire day to wait till our flight left that evening...Sparky REALLY wanted to go to Kincaid Park, a huge Anchorage park/preserve, et. home of many moose supposedly, but the logistics of trying to get to the park, rental car (very expensive for one day) and getting that back and returning to the airport was just a bit too fiddly, so we sat down and prepared to people watch and explore the Anchorage Ted Stevens Airport. Sparky just LOVES to explore airports. There are ALWAYS cool things to see at an airport, and interesting people to watch and food to eat...

Beautiful artwork.....This is a huge panel of glass made up of several hundred slivers or strips of glass  an inch wide (?) or less, set side by side and how the glass ripples or waves in different sections is where the depth and imagery comes through of salmon migration upstream.... Sparky started to count or estimate how many slivers there were per square inch, but then gave up. The slivers were about five feet high or higher so this was a TALL glass sculpture. It was beautiful!

There are paintings on the walls of native Alaskans....

There are about 195 works of art throughout the airport and the Ted Stevens International Airport is a showcase for Alaskan art. There is a world record Kodiak brown bear in a showcase as well. They measure the skull to determine the world record size---30 10/16".

Another beautiful piece of glass near the front entrance...It looks like ocean waves and as the sun moves through the sky and through the airport, the colors of the glass radiate different colors throughout the day.

And there was a beautiful three panel mural-- Here is the artist's explanation of it. If Sparky remembers right, it was on the ceiling at the airport above a big moose, but she forgot to take a photo of it. :-(

“Rainbow Creek” is a 9’ x 32’ oil painting on canvas on three panels. The work is based on studies done in the field at Rainbow Creek near the trailhead at mile 108 of the Seward Highway. The artist, David Mollett, said, “I've painted in the area for many years and love the crashing waterfalls as the creek approaches Turnagain Arm. The huge rough bark cottonwood trees, devil's club, and thundering water with a network of fallen branches, makes for a dramatic woodland scene. The light is even and soft due to the canopy of leaves high overhead.”

Sparky did so much walking and exploring at the airport, she wore herself out!

Finally, the departure hour arrived...early evening... Bye bye Alaska!

We had a five hour flight to Chicago, then a two hour flight to Orlando, then an hour and a half drive home...We made it!

PS. For those wondering how costly a trip such as this was, for renting an RV AFTER arriving in Alaska, here is a rough breakdown...
Flight from Orlando, FL to destination Anchorage...$503.00 per person round trip
$1400+ tax to rent the 28ft. motor home for 8 nights
Less than 300.00 for gas...
This didn't include groceries or souvenirs or the cost of staying in RV parks...The average cost of staying in Alaskan RV parks was around 40.00 a night and the conditions of the parks varied from decent to parking lot, to cramped and jammed.... :-)  There were PLENTY of places to boondocks everywhere we went, so if you wanted to save money by not staying in RV parks, it can be easily done. Lots of pullouts and roomy sections to stay overnight, although many were along the highways.

Eldy did a really wonderful job getting the best pricing for airfare and rental, in Sparky's humble opinion. Hope we can go again some time....It was one of the best trips ever, to be able to go and stay or leave whenever we wanted to, especially since we no longer have an RV and are usually now restricted to hotels and motels. It was terrific to be RVing back on the road. The weather was great, the experiences were amazing, and Alaska is an AMAZING state...hope you got some helpful information from following us on this trip! Sparky is headed to Virginia soon so come back and see us soon!

                                           Bye for now.....Sparky and Eldo