Homeward bound

Back at the hotel we retrieved our carry-on’s and made ourselves comfortable in the lobby of the Hotel Captain Cook.

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It’s a very nice hotel all polished and shiny with lots of shops to explore.

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Eventually we moved outside to sit in the sun while we watched them load our luggage onto the bus for our trip to the airport.

One stop in Seattle, very briefly, and then the red-eye to Newark. From Newark a short hop to Albany, NY. Lots of time to review the trip in my mind.

A few quick facts I ran across during our Alaskan Adventure.

The Alaska Flag: The Big Dipper & the North Star on a field of blue.

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State Motto: North to the Future

State Fish: ( Bet you can’t guess) King Salmon

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State Flower: Forget-Me-Not

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State Tree: Sitka Spruce

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State Mineral: ( Another obvious choice) Gold

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State Gem: Jade

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Sport: Not hunting, not fishing…it’s Dog Mushing

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State Bird: Willow Ptarmigan

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Native People: Eskimo, Aleut, Athabascan Indians, Haida Indians, Tlingit Indians, Tsimshian Indians

On the Summer Solstice (June 21) Anchorage gets 22 hours of functional daylight.

The largest Salmon caught in Alaska weighed 97 lbs.

The largest halibut weighed 459 lbs.

The average snowfall  in Anchorage is 69 inches. 42 miles away , on Mt Alyeska, the average snowfall is 650 inches.

The Northern Lights are most often seen between September and March unless you are above the Artic Circle.

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