Day 12 Girdwood

Megs Typing

Well, after a lengthy discussion about the start time this morning it was decided that as Girdwood was a relatively short distance in comparison to Talkeetna a short sleep in and a leisurely breakfast was indeed possible before setting out on our next adventure.

We woke to discover that if it snows early enough in the evening and long enough that all you have to do is brush the snow off the car, warm the engine a little and then you are good to go..no need to wait 20 minutes or more to defrost the windscreens. (That was the bright side)

The not so bright side, fresh snow on the roads and only the major roads had been cleared, heavy clouds promising more snow.  It was my turn to drive...All good not really worried at this point but thought with just on a quarter tank of fuel that maybe we should fill the car up prior to leaving the Anchorage area.

No one tells you how to fill the damn car up just the type of petrol you need to use.  We ascertained the side of the car the fuel tank was on - check; fuel type is unleaded - check; pull up to a gas pump, select the gas you want, put the nozzle in the tank and start to fill.......................................nothing happens.

Then this lovely disembodied voice comes the PA system asking us what we are trying to do and asked if we wanted to pay by debit or credit.  We both replied looking for a speaker that we wanted to pay cash.  The voice did not respond...  What to do???

Try again..........Nothing happens.  We start to read the instructions.  We swipe our travel card, cool...what 5 digit zip code are they talking about...... We have a four digit pin and hell knows what the zip code is of the apartment we staying at and what does that have to do with the travel card??????????????

We then decided to go into the service station and ask for help.  Apparently you pay ahead for petrol here.  If you want to fill the car and you over pay you can go back inside and get your change.  We also discovered at that time that there was a button that you can push to communicate with the staff inside the service station.  Feeling like teenagers filling a car for the first time ever - we successfully completed the task and continued on the way to Girdwood.

The trip was lovely, it did snow lightly as we followed the coastal road from Anchorage to Girdwood.  Just over an hour in total we stopped off at a Oh My God spot for photos of an amazing, slow moving, icy ocean.

Elona Typing

 The differences that Alaska offer in beautiful scenery in short distances is it is amazing you can go twenty minutes in one direction and can be surrounded by trees and mountains and go twenty minutes in the other and skirt the most amazing coastline. An ocean that's not moving - I'm sure it is further out but for as far as our eyes could see it was absolutely untidy ice - not sleek - but like it froze in motion in parts - amazing.

Girdwood is absolutely breathtaking - to this point in my life I have considered Zermatt the most beautiful/picturesque place I have been to till now. This place outshines anything I've scene in the movies, documentaries and anywhere I've been. Alaska has definitely made an impression on the both of us with it's wonderful landscape and fabulous people.

We started by taking a little walk after we parked the car and giggled as we often do by the snow covered vehicles....it was still snowing so it would be interesting to see whether (Gav) our car would be recognisable on our return. The main building is pretty much like any other rental area for ski and board hire with a couple of coffee shops and stores attached but when you step out of there onto the mountain your senses are just forced alive. You need to look at these photos and remind yourself that the photos don't really do the view justice but you will get the idea.

We watched a (scantilly clad group of teenagers) slalom racing - well they looked scantilly clad to us with no bulk to their outfits but they obviously do get hot as they were seen stripping down their top half to cool down. amazin speed and distance these kids went. We did a little videoing at the finish line and took some snaps and then headed over to a welcoming fire in front of a large lodge that reminded Megs and I of The Pub at Perisher. The walk to the lodge was through the softest of snow - incredibly powdery and you don't make any noise whatsoever ie no ice. We sat by the fire and talked to a lovely Alaskan local who was having his first trip to Girdwood which he described as the most romantic place in the world - he was 20 if a day bless him!!! But he was right - the scenery here is overwhelming with beauty almost too much for the senses. This lovely boy: Tim his name was directed us to the Gondola - a short drive to Aleyaska Resort which houses the tramline/gondola.

We set off through snow covered roads, chalets and happened upon a very majestic building - the resort itself. Very posh but welcoming. We head in after taking a few shots and head up to the tramline.

Having a rest - Meg's turn

We were starting to realise why people often use Girdwood and Aleyaska interchangeably.   We bought our ticket - combo ride and lunch and headed to the line queuing up to ride the trams up the mountain.  We met a group of snowboarders in the line who whilst loved the surfing in Australia were more that a little disappointed with our snow season and how warm the weather is in comparison.  Soon we crammed on with approximately 30 other people snowboards, skis, bride, groom, flower girl, wedding photographer all included.  WOW. She must have been cold, her eyes were watering and one of the above mentioned boys assumed that she was crying now that she was married.  Elona offered another explanation that being the cold.  The tram took 2 mins 48 secs to ascend to a height of approximately 28000 ft (memory is a little sketchy at this point for both of us and will print a retraction if data is completely incorrect).

AMAZING..  I know we tend to use the word a lot but it best describes the jaw dropping, speechless reaction we seem to experience with some regularity to the views and vistas we have seen in just over a week. (please see photos when we can get enough WiFi juice to post them).. We followed the progress of the wedding party and took many many photos.  We also noticed that there were considerably more skiers than boarders on the mountain.  And considering the local talk about it being the busiest day they have had and that the mountain was crowded there is still no lines for any of the lifts.

After taking photos and exploring the top of the mountain the best we could, we decided to get some lunch.....Now we know where the lines were.  We gave up on the idea of lunch at the top after waiting 1/2 an hour and not moving any where closer to ordering.  Back down the mountain via tram.  We were now the only two (plus the driver) in the cabin.  Cool- have video.

A quick spot of window shopping as we walking back through the resort, and a few more photos to be sure and a quick drop in to the post office.  We set off in search of GAV to see how he was fairing in snow.  All was good, Gav did not get lost and set off in search of a restaurant called the Two Mushy's.  We had been given the name of the restaurant as a must go to eat place by soooo many people.  We drive in, we park, a nice man is cleaning snow off the roof, we walk around to the front door, read the sign that says OPEN 5:00pm - 12:00pm, walk back past the man clearing the roof, get in the car and head back up to the main street in Girdwood.

He must of had a chuckle to himself.

We ended up having a lovely lunch at the local (one pub) in the township of Girdwood itself.  Elona ordered Halibut on Patrick's advise and I had a roast beef sandwich with salad.  The Halibut was good as was the sandwich.  We chatted with a number of people, who were interested in our accent, about different parts of Alaska and the "lower 48" as Alaskans call the rest of the US.

We set off home to return Gav to Thrifty and pack our bags before we left Alaska for Canada early the next morning......

Elona Typing

Packing, packing frustration more packing - let's do layers - lots of layers that will lighten the load?!?! hhhhmmmm let's just go to bed - making sure to set 2 alarms we headed to bed.