Anchorage in summer: Who could ask for more?Copyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw
ANCHORAGE, AK -- The trails are everywhere, 250 miles of them, lining the coast, connecting to schools and parks and neighborhoods.
They're paved for bicyclists. They become cross-country ski trails in the winter. And they get heavy use, even in the middle of a weekday afternoon.
Prince Charming and I explored some of the trails on foot during our "weekend" here Tuesday and Wednesday. We are without bicycles this summer, and this was the first time we've missed them.
We stayed in a guest-house near one of the trails, which we followed to a place called Westchester Lagoon, above. The trail circled the lagoon, connecting to another trail that leads to downtown Anchorage and still another that travels along the waterfront for miles.
Just from one afternoon's exploring, and map-studying, it looked as if the trails would be of great benefit to residents here because it's actually possible to use them to travel from one part of town to another, to get to places that people need to go.
Wednesday afternoon we wished we'd had a trail to help us get home. One hour into our five-hour trip back to Denali, near the town of Willow, we suddenly found ourselves in the traffic jam below, the result of a head-on collision that closed the Parks Highway for at least two hours.
The picture shows one medevac helicopter lifting off from the accident scene. Shortly, a second chopper landed to pick up another victim.
The accident didn't make Thursday morning's Anchorage Daily News, so we don't know any further details.
But it made us stop and think: What if we hadn't stopped for gas, which we only did because it was a nickel cheaper per gallon than up the road at Talkeetna? What if we'd spent 10 minutes less in the supermarket before we stopped for gas? What if we hadn't made that brief stop to change drivers?
A few minutes earlier along this road, and we could have been the ones in the helicopter.
Scene of a terrible crash on the Parks Highway Wednesday
They're paved for bicyclists. They become cross-country ski trails in the winter. And they get heavy use, even in the middle of a weekday afternoon.
Prince Charming and I explored some of the trails on foot during our "weekend" here Tuesday and Wednesday. We are without bicycles this summer, and this was the first time we've missed them.
We stayed in a guest-house near one of the trails, which we followed to a place called Westchester Lagoon, above. The trail circled the lagoon, connecting to another trail that leads to downtown Anchorage and still another that travels along the waterfront for miles.
Just from one afternoon's exploring, and map-studying, it looked as if the trails would be of great benefit to residents here because it's actually possible to use them to travel from one part of town to another, to get to places that people need to go.
Wednesday afternoon we wished we'd had a trail to help us get home. One hour into our five-hour trip back to Denali, near the town of Willow, we suddenly found ourselves in the traffic jam below, the result of a head-on collision that closed the Parks Highway for at least two hours.
The picture shows one medevac helicopter lifting off from the accident scene. Shortly, a second chopper landed to pick up another victim.
The accident didn't make Thursday morning's Anchorage Daily News, so we don't know any further details.
But it made us stop and think: What if we hadn't stopped for gas, which we only did because it was a nickel cheaper per gallon than up the road at Talkeetna? What if we'd spent 10 minutes less in the supermarket before we stopped for gas? What if we hadn't made that brief stop to change drivers?
A few minutes earlier along this road, and we could have been the ones in the helicopter.
Scene of a terrible crash on the Parks Highway Wednesday
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