Up Ship Creek

In 1915 thousands of ruffians, rogues and vagabonds (and possibly a number of decent god-fearing people) swarmed up the banks of Ship Creek in Alaska in the hope of finding construction work with the Alaska Railroad, or making a living from trading furs, or catching salmon, or finding gold in them thar hills.

When these early hopefuls pitched their tents on the banks of the creek, they surely had no idea that they were sowing the seeds for the smart sassy city that is now Anchorage.

What's not to like about Anchorage? Alaska's biggest city, it stretches more than fifty miles beneath wrap-around mountains and breathtaking coastal scenery.

We arrived in pitch darkness at 3am and dropped straight into bed when the taxi left us at our b & b. Next morning, we were delighted to see that our garden led down to a lake, with canoes, kayaks and a pedal boat thoughtfully provided for guests to use. (Yes, we did paddle all the way round the lake in a canoe one sunny afternoon).

Downtown Anchorage caters to the needs of every tourist; souvenir shops, hanging baskets and floral displays, reindeer sausages, cheesy t-shirts etc, while plenty of big malls accommodate all the stores and services the locals require.

We liked the miles and miles of multi-use trails and vast forested parks within the city, and enjoyed a gentle hike here and there despite the bear warnings.

Whilst walking or riding the bus in Anchorage we noticed a wide ethnic mix, indeed, it was an interesting gene pool, but we were still amazed to learn that there are 95 languages spoken in the Anchorage schools district.

Our hostess at the b & b fed us strange but wonderful breakfasts - salmon fishcakes, salmon quiche, blueberry crumble, blueberry pancakes, homestyle fries, apple and cinnamon oatmeal - until we were fit to burst. Luckily, we are in America, and although increasing in size by our standards, we're still significantly smaller than most of the people we see.

Tempting though it was to spend all our time in Alaska lazing around Anchorage, we knew we hadn't come all this way to neglect our exploration of the Last Frontier, so we prepared for a camping expedition.