|
MAJOR ATTRACTIONS:
Anchorage
 Situated
on a flat peninsula on Cook Inlet, and backed by the Chugach
Mountains, Alaska's largest city is worth exploring. Blessed
with an abundance of parks and an attractive downtown walking
district, the city offers attractions such as a botanical
garden, a musk-ox producers' co-op, the Alaska Zoo, the Tony
Knowles Coastal Trail, and the Anchorage Museum of History
and Art.
The Anchorage Museum of History and Art is one of
Alaska's most visited attractions and features displays of
Alaska's cultural heritage and more than 1,000 historical
artifacts. You'll find displays on Alaska's Native cultures,
Russians, New England whalers, gold rushes, World War II,
statehood and Alaska today. There are even full-scale recreations
of early-day dwellings.
The newest major attraction in Anchorage is the Alaska
Native Heritage Center, a short drive east of downtown.
This 26-acre facility features a 2-acre lake and a walking
trail to 5 traditional village settings representing the Native
people of Alaska. The dramatic Welcome House at the center's
entrance houses exhibits, arts and crafts, and a theatre.
Another popular attraction is Alaska Wild Berry Products & Village, located off International Airport Road between the Old and New Seward Highways. Alaska Wild Berry offers free tours of their kitchen, where Alaska wild berries are turned into candies, jams and jellies. The gift shop sells these wild berry products and also has the world’s largest chocolate fall. Alaska films are shown in the Wild Berry Theatre.
Other attractions in the Anchorage area include Potter Point
State Game Refuge at Potters Marsh south of town, where you
can see more than 100 species of waterfowl. Ski areas and
resorts are less than an hour away, as are many beautiful
parks and lakes, and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, known for
its giant produce and annual Alaska State Fair. About half
a day's trip away is Glennallen, a gateway to Wrangell-St.
Elias National Park and Preserve, which is a popular adventure-travel
and backcountry-recreation spot.
If you come to Anchorage in February, you can attend the
Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, which includes a blanket toss and
the World Championship Sled Dog Race.
Another race, the famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, begins
in March in Anchorage. Mushers race their dogs from Anchorage
to Eagle River, and load the teams onto trucks to Wasilla,
where the race officially begins. The race ends about 1,000
miles later in Nome.
And, Anchorage is a hub for arranging flightseeing, boat
or train tours to scenic attractions ranging from the Chugach
Mountains, Denali (Mount McKinley) and Prince William Sound,
to an Inupiat Eskimo village, the Kenai Fjords and Portage
Glacier.
You can reach Portage Glacier by taking the Seward
Highway south out of Anchorage for about 50 miles to the Portage
Glacier Road, which leads about 5 1/2 miles to Portage Lake.
From there you can board a boat that takes you across an iceberg-filled
lake to the blue-tinged glacier, one of Alaska's most popular
attractions. Be sure to see the information on ice worms at
the Portage Lake visitor center. These small black worms thrive
at temperatures just above freezing. One of the most popular
activities at Portage is the ice-worm safari, and various
hikes and programs are led by naturalists who are posted at
the visitor center.
|
