Day 9 continued Thunderbird Falls

                                            Sunday 9/1/2014

    In  Chugach State Park  is  200 foot high Thunderbird Falls. (Chugach  [pronounced CHEW-gatch] is the tribal name for the indigenous people who once inhabited the upper cook inlet region. The park, encompassing 495,000 acres, is one of the four largest state parks in the United States) We met up with Russ and Diana Beck and kids (Russ had gotten  his caribou within hours the first day at Lake Louise and returned home to Anchorage on Saturday night!) for a 1 mile hike in a birch forest on the steep hillside overhanging Eklutna Canyon. (and did I mention the sun was out and it was a gorgeous day? yeah. . . after all that rain we sure were enjoying the good weather).

Back in Anchorage we went to the Fancy Moose ( in the Millennium Hotel) for lunch on the deck overlooking Lake Hood. Lake Hood is the world's busiest seaplane base, handling an average of 190 flights per day. It is located on Lakes Hood and Spenard, next to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, three miles from downtown Anchorage. Almost every house in this area has their own floatplane parked in the yard. Was delightful to sit on the deck and soak up the sunshine and sights. Seaplanes taking off and landing every few minutes.  

 Russ and Diana had us over to their house for a delicious dinner of fresh caribou back-straps, salmon and reindeer sausage.  Doesn't get any better than that!
                                                      We sure did pack a lot in today, didn't we!