I wrote of Amanda’s great catch of a deal in 2021 that took the Ross family to Alaska. I shared in that post, last year, that we caught a flight to Fairbanks and made our way to Denali National Park. I also wrote about staying with my Uncle and Aunt Doug and Linda Jonas in Anchorage. While I shared photos with Doug and Linda, Brook and Caitlin, Elle and Blye, I thought I better share some more photos of Anchorage itself.

The visitor center stands out in downtown Anchorage as a log cabin reminder of its past. The amazing part was the flowers. Alaska has long daylight hours with mild temperatures. Due to that, the flowers grow large and pretty. You can definitely see that in these flowers.

We wandered around the downtown area to get a feel for the town and its sights.

This Federal Building is not where the Federal Courts are housed. We had to track that building down about four or five blocks away. Here is a picture we snapped there.

Classic lawyer nerd taking a picture with a Federal Courthouse!

We walked down to Resolution Park. We read about Captain Cook. The monument was installed as part of the 1976 Bicentennial Celebrations.

CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
R.N., F.R.S.
Navigator, Explorer, Chartmaker, Scientist, Humanist
1728-1779

James Cook was born in Yorkshire, England, on October 27, 1728.  He was apprenticed to serve on sailing ships built in Whitby, near his birth-place, to carry coal along the English coast.  At age 26, he joined the Royal Navy, took part in actions against France and, through his natural flair for mathematics and science, was promoted “King’s Surveyor” and given command of vessels performing survey work on the coast of Newfoundland.    

Chosen as commander to lead an expedition of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, he sailed on his first voyage of exploration (1768-71) to find the continent of Australia as well as Tahiti, New Zealand and New Guinea where he charted coasts and waters previously unknown to the Western World.  On his return, he was honoured by a grateful nation, made a Fellow of the Royal Society, and received by the King.

His second voyage (1772-75) to Antarctic and the South Pacific added the Friendly Isles, New Caledonia, Easter Island, Cook Island and New Georgia to the map. In 1776, Captain Cook set out on his third voyage, aboard his flagship “Resolution”, to find a north-west passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic.  He surveyed the coast of northwest America and Alaska, but, failing to find the passage to the Atlantic, turned south from the Bering Strait and sailed to the Sandwich Isles where, on the Island of Hawaii, he met his death on February 14, 1779.

James Cook, a farm hand’s son who became a Captain in the Royal Navy and gold medalist of the Royal Society, lives in history as the greatest explorer-navigator the world has known.   His real memorial is on the map of the world.

This monument, created by Derek Freeborn after the statue in Whitby, where James Cook began his career as seaman, was donated by The British Petroleum Company as a contribution to the Bicentennial celebration of the United States of America.

President Dwight D Eisenhower signed Alaska into existence as the 49th State. This monument memorializes that act. It was a culmination of many years of work and something that President Eisenhower took very seriously.

We drove past the temple a couple of times going to and from various places. We had to stop and take some pictures. This temple is being replaced, so it will not be there much longer. The new temple is being built where the Stake Center was next to this Temple. When completed, this will be removed and I believe the new Stake Center will be built. I believe this is the first time in the church where a temple will be formally replaced not on the same footprint.

We saw multiple glaciers while in Alaska. We stopped and went through the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center. It was interesting to see how close the center once was near glaciers. Now you cannot even see the Portgage Glacier from it. We went and hiked up the Byron Glacier Trail.

As you can see, the glaciers have heavily retreated. More of just an alpine trail now with some blue snow/ice above.

My cousin Brook Jonas lives in this home on the foothills west of Anchorage. If you look closely, above Lillie you can see downtown Anchorage. You can also see Fire Island straight out and what is beyond Anchorage.

At a later time, I will have to write of our trips to Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, and Whittier.