Adventure 2

Jane here again.
I have been away from Anchorage travelling for my job, and just got back on Friday. I will be here a week, then gone again for a few weeks. So of the month we have been here, I personally have spent a total of 6 days here. However, so far it's great!

Today we had urban adventure # 2. We started out with the Alaska Zoo. Now, in general, I am not a zoo fan for various reasons. However, this is a good zoo. The animals are mostly rescued injured animals that cannot be released into the wild. Also, most of the animals are native and/or local animals, which is what makes it interesting to me. It is a chance to see Alaskan native animals in a controlled environment, where I can really pay attention and observe them, without all the running and screaming I would have to do if I saw them in the wild. There are lots of owls and eagles and other birds that are native to this climate. In the mammal department are wolves, otters, dall sheep, yaks, moose, snow leopard, lynx and caribou. Also, brown and black bears, harbor seals and polar bears! They all have reasonably nice environments and it is a nicely laid out zoo in general. The pens are situated in a woods that looks like it was disturbed as little as possible, which makes it even nicer. All in all, if you need a look at Alaska wildlife, the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage is definitely a good way to go!

Our second stop was the Alaska Botanical Garden. We did not get the full experience of this attraction, as the shop closed while we were walking the paths and looking at the gardens. So, no shopping, but a really nicely done and varied series of gardens. There are herb and perennial gardens, and a few nice walkways. I think my favorite bit was the wildflower path, which mostly has native plants, and also features a huge boulder left by a glacier which now has rare mosses and lichen on it. It has a fence around it, and we walked all around looking at it. All of the garden areas and the walkways have nice label stakes so that it's informative as well as pretty. There are a few paths that we didn't walk because it was getting late and we were tired. Also, there were signs up everywhere that a mother bear and some cubs had been seen in the area...today! Since the gardens are very near our house, we decided to come back another day and see the things further out from the main areas. Like the zoo, really worthwhile!