PAGE FIVE

Washington DC - Andrew and Jacqui - 2007

In August 2007 Andrew and Jacqui returned to New York on a shopping trip. To break up the trip a little we decided to do a coach trip to Washington DC – it looks pretty close on a map after all!

Well, this is where you get to realise just how BIG America really is. What looks like a tiny trip to a nearby town turned out to be four very long hours in a coach either way. It didn’t help that the August weather was a million percent or so humidity and the air-con in the coach barely worked (and on the return journey actually died completely).

Our first stop was at a service station in Delaware, not particularly lovely, but at least we had set foot in another State! The bus then continued down through Maryland before turning into the District of Columbia.

The Capitol Building, Washington DC

Andrew by the Capitol, Washington DC

As this was a guided tour, we didn’t get to explore at our own speed or in our own way; this did mean that certain things were a bit of a whistlestop – but at least we got to see a bit of the US Capital.

First stop was the Capitol Building – a familiar sight from TV and film. The white dome positively shone in the August heat, which was even more oppressive in Washington than it had been in New York. It looked like a lot of work had recently been done on the Capitol and the very top still had a little scaffolding on it. It is a pretty impressive building with a wide sweep of steps on either side of a small (off limits) green. We didn’t have much more time than to walk up to the building – sweat a bit – and then walk back down to catch our bus.

View from the Capitol Steps, Washington DC

The Capitol, Washington DC

The Capitol Dome, Washington DC

From the Capitol we drove down part of Pennsylvania Avenue before turning up and around some back streets to the White House. Oddly enough, the familiar view from news reports etc, is of the back of the White House – the front which is actually on Pennsylvania Avenue is rarely seen. Although home to the most powerful man on Earth (still GWB at this point) the White House itself is really just a big quasi-classical mansion. Attractive enough without being anything special – but again you could almost feel the power of the American Dream standing here surrounded by US Citizens swelled with patriotic pride.

Jacqui outside the White House, Washington DC

The White House, Washington DC

Behind the White House is Lafayette Park and St. John’s Church, both of which would be quite nice places to spend a few minutes, but it was back to the coach for our lunchtime visit.

St John's Church in Washington DC

We came back down to the central avenue of roads and parks known as the National Mall and headed to the Smithsonian Museum – or rather the specific part of this massive complex of museums that was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Here had an hour or so to catch some food (and only McDonalds was available … hmm) and to see a bit of the Museum.

Lunar Landing Module, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington DC

There were some absolutely cool things inside this Museum – the chance to touch a bit of the Moon was really something. Also to see how flimsy the lunar landing module looked was an eye-opener.

Touchdown, Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC

At the other end of the scale there was a real thrill to be had in seeing the Kittyhawk – the Wright Brothers’ airplane – which undertook that first powered flight.

Kittyhawk, Smithsonian, Washington DC

Our time in the Smithsonian came to an end much much too quickly. Even though we briefly saw the Smithsonian Castle as we passed we were both left with a feeling of not even scratching the surface of the Smithsonian – an incentive to return to Washington DC sometime.

Smithsonian Castle, Washington DC

Passing by the great needle of the Washington Memorial, the last stop on our coach trip and the highlight was the sublime Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Washington Memorial from Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Housed within an elegant series of colonnades, this Memorial to America’s greatest leader looks over a superb view down the National Mall with the Washington Memorial reflected in the calm and aptly named Reflecting Pool and the Capitol high on the hill at the far end this is one of the best views to be had in DC.

View of Washington DC

Abraham Lincoln, Washington DC

However, it is not only the view that makes the Lincoln Memorial something special. For a start it is another place which has the same feeling as the Statue of Liberty, that almost reverential feel you get in a great cathedral. Then there are the words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address carved into the wall. Yes, we all know these words a little too well, but there is still something about the phrasing of “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” which has a power to inspire some 140 years after they were first spoken.

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Close up on Abe, Washington DC

Then, of course, this is a backed up by Abe’s patrician glare from the gargantuan statue (19 feet high, even though he’s sitting down). No doubt this is a slightly stylised version of what Lincoln looked like (it was after all sculpted by Daniel Chester French in the 1920s, over 60 years after his death) but that stern but kindly face speaks volumes. The curl of his fingers on his chair tell of suppressed power held in check by the force of his will. It is a truly powerful image and also has been the backdrop to many an important US event, particularly Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech.

Atmospheric Side view of Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Close by are memorials to two recent wars – the Vietnam War and the Korean War. The Vietnam Memorial is a stark wall and is a little clinical for my tastes. The Korean War Memorial is far more dynamic, featuring as it does a representative troop of US soldiers marching back from battle, fatigued and tired but not defeated. Whilst both Memorials do, perhaps, ignore the heavy defeats that those two Wars represent the Korean one in particular is strangely affecting.

Korean War Memorial, Washington DC

I personally would have liked to finish the trip by visiting the two other Presidential Memorials – those to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson – but time pressed on and we reluctantly climbed back aboard our coach for the very long and horribly hot journey back the New York City.

Anchorage - Andrew - 2008

In 2008 Andrew made what is, to date, his only solo trip to the United States. This was to go to a conference for work. When I first mooted Anchorage as a possible destination some sharp intakes of breath were heard, but investigation proved that it was not so much more expensive to go to than anywhere else in the USA and it was a very important conference.

So it was that I found myself flying business class for the first time ever on a British Airways flight to Vancouver, Canada. A very brief stop at Vancouver airport and it was time to transfer to a much smaller Alaskan Airways plane for the flight up the Pacific Coast into the largest State in the Union – Alaska.

Flying over Alaska

Another Airplane View of Alaska

As the plane began to descend some wonderful views of snow-capped mountains and huge winding glaciers began to unfold below me. Even in June the lands surrounding Anchorage looked snowy and cold. At one point two small dots moved across the top of a hill – this would be the closest I would get to wild bears on the trip.

Still Approaching Anchorage, Alaska

Another Alaskan View

With America’s highest peak, Mount McKinley, in the background the plane swept right around Anchorage and across the Cook Inlet before landing at the airport. This afforded me some great views of the little city in its bowl of flat land.

Arriving at Anchorage, Alaska

No sooner had I got through customs than I began to realise that this was yet another very different versions of the USA to New York or San Francisco. To begin with the taxi into town was a big truck type thing with huge wheels and a plough share attached to the front of it.

11 pm view from hotel of Anchorage Downtown, Alaska

Depositing me at the Sheraton Hotel at the eastern end of Downtown Anchorage, my first view was of the whole of the rest of Downtown spread out before me. This was not a large city. Compared to anywhere else I’d been in America this was small town. I then realised that despite hardly being overcast it was in fact 11 o’clock at night. This was about as dark as it ever got.

My First Alaskan Bear! Anchorage

50 Years of Alaska

Next day, having underestimated the summer temperature of Alaska, my first port of call was to buy some warmer clothing. Then I walked down into the heart of Downtown to find the Conference venue and to have a look around. Anchorage is not an ancient city – the oldest buildings only date from around 1915. However, the vast majority of the city dates to after the devastating earthquake of 1964 which ripped through Anchorage and actually caused the ground level of one half of the city to drop by some 30 feet so that now when passing from 4th to 3rd Avenues you have to go down a very sharp hill. It was the second largest earthquake in recorded history.

Andrew in Anchorage, Alaska

2008 marked Alaska’s 50th Birthday as an American State, so the city was in something like party mood. Around the area of the Anchorage Information Centre there are a number of jolly souvenir shops which sell all manner of things from the obvious – badges, bear toys, wooden carving to the odd and obscure – genuine moose poo, carved whalebone trinkets and numerous things made of expensive Alaskan gold.

Anchorage Cathedral, Alaska

Alaska Patrol - Anchorage

It turned out that there was a problem with my shipment of materials to the Conference, so on the first day I dipped in and out to check if it had been delivered or not throughout the day. Which meant that at other times I explored some of the Downtown sights such as the Holy Family Cathedral (a rather modern construction and not that exciting) and Cook Point where there stands a statue of Yorkshireman James Cook who sailed up to Anchorage but decided not to stick around too long.

Main Street, Anchorage, Alaska

Downtown Rush Hour! Anchorage, AK

Arch Sculpture, Anchorage, Alaska

The Alaska Railroad, Anchorage

It began to be apparent that the shipment would not arrive this first day – and so I decided to head out of town to the Alaskan Native Peoples’ Heritage Centre on the very edge of the City. Here, despite a constant drizzle of rain, I learnt more about the culture of the Native peoples of Alaska. There are all kinds of things you hear about how to refer to the Natives of Alaska and Canada … don’t call them Eskimo, call them Inuit, and so on. In truth neither term is correct. Eskimo is not a word to shy away from entirely, although strictly speaking it only conforms to the some of  the peoples of Canada and Greenland (ironically, it is considered a derogatory term in Canada and Greenland but in Alaska is used as a catch-all term quite freely) and Inuit, similarly, is not a term for all the tribes – only a section, and not the section that lived near Anchorage.

Dancers at the Alaska Native People's Heritage Centre, Anchorage, AK

They are the Dena’ina Athabascans and they were the people who performed a series of traditional dances for the thirty or so visitors at the Centre on this day.

Dancers at the Alaska Native People's Heritage Centre, Anchorage, AK

Outside, grouped around a central lake are a series of huts and houses representing all the major Native tribes of Alaska. It’s quite interesting in a rather dry way, but is enlivened considerably by employed representatives of all these different tribes who will inform the curious visitor about the differences between all the cultures.

Lake at the Heritage Centre, Anchorage, Alaska

Totum Pole, Anchorage, AK

Despite this very positive spin on the Native Peoples of the Anchorage area, the hard fact is that the vast majority even here are unemployed and have one of the highest instances of alcoholism amongst the population as a whole. This sobering thought is left with you as you leave the Heritage Centre (via the shop naturally) and is something which reminds you that although Native culture is being kept alive it is hardly thriving.

Alaska Wild Berry Park, Anchorage

As it doesn’t get dark in Anchorage in June until … well, it never really does get properly dark … all the visitor attractions tend to open up late, so that evening at about 7:30 I set out for Alaska Wild Berry Park. Not really a park at all, but an excuse to sell stuff to tourists! I was really heading here to see one of the real oddities of Anchorage – the World’s Largest Chocolate Fountain! It is a pretty hefty thing, it uses 3,400 pound of chocolate and is 12 feet tall. A thing of some interest, but in retrospect probably not worth the long bus journey into an oddly deserted suburb.

The World's Largest Chocolate Fountain, Wild Berry Park, Anchorage, AK

Masses of Chocolate!

At long last, on the next day, my shipment arrived, so I got to spend some time at the Conference.

After this I took the very long journey well out of town to the Alaska Zoo. Now zoos are, of course, a thing you either love or hate. My feelings towards them are generally ambivalent – it is great to see animals you might not usually see, but they have to be in very good conditions. The Alaska Zoo is, however, something special because all the animals it contains can be found in the State.

Bald Eagle, Alaska Zoo, Anchorage, AK

Black Bear, Alaska Zoo, Anchorage

As a visitor with no transport of my own this would be my only chance to see some of Alaska’s wildlife – although the promise of urban moose turned out to be an urban myth and I never did see one in town. Here I saw black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, porcupines, bald eagles, wolverines and polar bears. The only obvious anomaly was the tiger that sits rather forlornly looking out of place.

Grizzly Bear, Alaska Zoo, Anchorage

I spent a couple of hours at the zoo and was quietly fascinated by the bears – particularly the rather cute black bears and the surprisingly large grizzlies. Although all looked cute from a distance, I’m sure I wouldn’t want to wake up next morning to find one in the lobby!

Moose, Alaska Zoo, Anchorage, AK

I arrived back at my hotel late that day and took a few photos out of the window looking over at the Sleeping Lady Mountain – whose story I had heard at the Alaskan Native Peoples’ Heritage Centre.

The Sleeping Lady Mountain, Anchorage, Alaska

At about 1 am I woke and looked out of the window and took a photograph of Anchorage as dark as it would get during my visit. By 3 am it was broad daylight again.

Anchorage, 1 AM and as dark as it ever got!

The following day, after spending much of it at the Conference, I decided to take a bicycle ride along the famed coastal cycle ride known as the “Tony Knowles Coastal Path”. This is in total 11 miles long… having not been on a bicycle for about 20 years, I was not intending to reach anything close to that distance. Inevitably, I began by getting lost and passing the wrong side of a lake before having to turn back onto the Path.

On the Coastal Bike Trail, Anchorage, Alaska

Looking back at Downtown Anchorage, AK

Unlikely Cyclist, Anchorage, Alaska

Beautiful Scenery, Anchorage, Alaska

A Bit Overgrown, Anchorage, Alaska

I made it as far as Earthquake Park – an area where the ground is churned up and crazed just like it was after the 1964 Quake, although it is all very overgrown and not as easy to make out as it might be.

Wonderful Scenery, Anchorage, Alaska

Along the whole journey I was afforded some spectacular views both back towards Anchorage and also across to the snow-capped mountains which surround the City. I was also pleasantly surprised not to be too exhausted by the ride which was generally fairly unadventurous regarding exertion – although signs saying “you are now in moose country – beware” were slightly disconcerting.

Mountain Views, Anchorage, Alaska

That evening I treated myself to a meal at Anchorage’s best restaurant – the Marx Brothers Café – not a café, but a full blown restaurant, albeit one with only 14 tables. I had a wonderful Alaskan halibut in pistachio crust, by a long way the best meal I had on this trip.

Anchorage's Best Restaurant - Marx Bros Cafe

Cloudscape, Alaska

Dusk, Leaving Alaska

Leaving Alaska at Sunset

The next day was to be my last and I would spent it at the Conference, leaving from there directly to the airport. I then flew back down to Vancouver, briefly stepped in Canada again, and then was back on business class flying over the Canadian Rockies as the sunset, allowing me to take some quite astonishing pictures of the mountains and clouds cast with glorious oranges and browns.

Beautiful Sunset over the Canadian Rockies

Sunset over the Mountains of Canada

More sunset pictures

Weird cloud formations

This turned out to be one of the shortest nights I’ve ever had as by the time we reached the other side of Canada and ice-floes over Greenland daylight was beginning to emerge once again.

Ice Floes over Greenland

It was a fittingly unique end to a fascinating trip.

Go to USA Page One
Go to USA Page Two
Go to USA Page Three
Go to USA Page Four
Go to USA Page Six
Go to USA Page Seven
Go to USA Page Eight

Back to the Americas

© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions, Andrew J. Müller, Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Roy Barton, Shaun Runham and Andrew J. Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2023