It was our last day in Alaska and we headed to the cafe once again for our 'complimentary' breakfast before we set off for Anchorage.
The weather was amazing - the best we had on our trip, beautiful blue skies and warm and dry
We decided to make the most of our trip by taking in a trip to a wee place called 'Hope' which was a very small but lovely spot near a river which was a popular spot for fishing.
After a short wander we stopped in a lovely cafe for a tea and a coffee. Maurice also had their home made soup and the waitress there chatted to us and was really friendly and welcoming. It was quite a remote spot and so they were especially nice to anyone who stopped by.
As we left Hope, we saw a female moose and her calf at the roadside and managed to stop and take some pics. The calf was very shy though and only popped into view briefly.
Whittier was more or less on the way back from Seward to Anchorage so we decided to visit there too, not realising that you had to navigate a tunnel that only opened up to traffic in a one-way convoy system every half hour. We hadn't really done our homework on Whittier but it was an unusual stopping place. We went in via the 2.30 tunnel opening.
We got a slice of pizza in a wee take out place and walked the length of the town, which is dominated by a ghastly monstrosity of a deserted building called the Buckner Building. This blog tells you more about it.
We were held up on the way out by a 'train' - the tunnel is operated by the Alaskan Train Company so cars need to give way to any trains that come along. A large line of cars was waiting to get through the tunnel and we were all out with cameras ready to take a photo of an iconic Alaskan train. Only it never came - just a small maintenance vehicle with two operators sitting astride. A bit disappointing. We left via the now slightly late 4.00pm tunnel opening.
Back in Anchorage we had a quick stop in the Harley Davidson near the airport where we returned for 6pm, returned the hire car, had some food in airport and got on our overnight flight home.
