Into our room
The Princess Cruises’ desk had a queue of passengers waiting to be given their room keys. We picked up our carry-on bags and joined the queue. Our room was in Tower One and we had to walk back through the hotel to the tower’s entrance lobby that was on 4th.
Both our cases were in our room waiting for us. This was just another example of how well the logistics of the land to a part of this trip had been organised. After some sorting it out of clothes we went out for another walk around this part of Anchorage.
More exploring
Our tower’s lobby opened up on 4th and we turned left towards the Knick Arm to find the coastal trail. The temperature was still quite warm and we should have picked up one of our bottles of water before we left. We passed restaurants on 4th that were closing and in one particular caught our eye,the Snow City Cafe, which was on the corner of 4th and L Street.
We walked up L Street and we came to Resolution Point and the statue of Captain Cook.
In front of the statue was a wooden structure that appeared to offer a way down to the Coast Trail. The structure was a series of wooden platforms and ramps that descended down from street level towards the trail and the railway line.
After we’d walked down three levels to the last platform we were still 30 or 40 feet above the trail. We took in the views and watched and listened to a young Russian couple arguing forcibly with each other. Walking back up the ramps we met one of our travelling companions who us was exploring Anchorage for the first time.
Back on L Street we walked down to 5th Avenue and turned right down the steep hill to Elderberry Park and the Coastal Trail. The railway line that we had passed along through Anchorage earlier on our way North was on our left between us and the Knick Arm.
The trail was busy with other walkers as well as bikers. We walked down the trail until it joined 2nd Avenue and became a sidewalk.
By now we were hot and bothered and it was time to head back to our hotel. We turned up Christiansen Drive to walk up to 3rd Avenue.
At the top of the drive we could see and hear drinkers on the roof space of the 49 State Brewery Company. The outside bar on top of the building looked packed and we walked on past heading back towards our hotel.