Alaska Aviation Museum, Anchorage, Alaska

    We had a weird site last night.  After the campground office closed a van pulled into the campsite across from us.  Soon several adults and many kids climbed out of the van and headed to the showers with towels.  The adult men were dressed differently than the usual campground attire - they looked like gypsies to us.  After showers, the group unloaded items from the van including a puppy and a cat and had dinner.  Then there was more arranging in the van and the kids climbed back in and went to sleep.  So did we, so we never saw where the adults slept - no tent - and the van was gone by the time we woke up.  Hmmm, we love to people watch when we camp.
     Rick took off on his own today and went to see the Alaska Aviation museum out by the airport.  He had to drive on one of the small plane taxi-ways to get there.  Small town design!  Many towns in Alaska - including the capital, Juneau, can only be reached by plane or boat.  Bush pilots who fly small planes with fat, soft tires or float planes are critical to many villages.  A huge portion of the adult population in Alaska have a pilot's license.  Many summer "cabins" are accessible only by small plane.  Rick enjoyed the museum and it reviewed the history of the critical role that aviation played in Alaska's development.

     I enjoyed a couple hours at Alaska's largest shopping mall which was really a bunch of stores clumped together in a pretty disorganized manner.  But it was fun to be on my own for a little while.  We have had a lot of togetherness.
   Since today was mostly a housekeeping and errand day. After Rick picked me up we went to Walmart for some odds and ends including some very reasonably priced smoked salmon for Amanda.  We found it to be very expensive in Homer and Seward.  After a restaurant lunch we both got haircuts.  I was worried about finding someone to give me a decent cut away from home, but we both were satisfied and are looking swell.
    The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and participating in the fiercest competition in the camping world. Everyone had lots of laundry and one lady took her time using almost all the dryers.  at least was a nice day to sit outside int he lawn chair and read while waiting for the clothes to dry.  I liked doing laundry a lot more when I had Amanda's company!