The day started with a sag to a stop south of Anchorage on the bike path that parallels the Turn Again Arm of Cook Inlet. Turn Again was named by a very frustrated Captain Cook who was desperately trying to find the Northwest Passage. It's full of quicksand-like mud flats. I can only imaging how difficult it was for the desperate captain and his soon-to-be mutinous crew to turn a sailing ship around in the narrow inlet without running aground.
Most of the bike path was beautiful. It descended through dense forests and rose to great views.
First stop was Girdwood, or known to the locals as "Girdweed". Marijuana is not legal here but I guess the Alaskans have a rather tolerant attitude. We found a good coffee shop with dark chocolate worth the $8.00 for a 1/4 pound.
Then on to the Alaskan ski area Aleska. It is certainly beautiful but so steep I wouldn't want to learn to ski there. Like Colorado, they love mountain biking down the ski slopes. All the lift support poles have lights on them since there's only 4 hours of daylight in January. Oh, and our tour guide mentioned that it can get well below zero. We certainly enjoyed the day and the fabulous lunch prepared by our sag drivers Nancy and Sally.
We decided to forgo the sag and rode all the way back to the motel. Anchorage certainly has great bike lanes and paths.