Farewell RV

I was sorry to return the RV today - it was a marvellous way to see the country, and gave me a lot of flexibility. I may not have been able to do what I did without it. It meant I didn't need to unpack and pack every time I moved. The facilities allowed me to camp by the side of the road if worst came to worst. It was a beautiful machine, having done only 4000 miles. I put on over 5000.

On the other hand, the microwave was very high, and I needed to stand on one of the chairs to see into it. As the turntable often came unstuck while driving, I often needed to stand on the chair. Also, getting things down out of it was difficult. Similarly, the high cupboards were just a bit too high for me. I didn't use the shower or the burners for cooking because of the logistics involved, as using the shower would have meant the whole bathroom needed to be dried out, while the weather was generally too cold to use the burners as you were supposed to have windows open. And every city and set of roadworks were a bit of a challenge as it was a bit too wide, and you can't set a GPS to only go on wide roads.

Today I saw the museum of Alaska, as as it was Museum day, it was FREE! It has a very good exhibit of the Native peoples of Alaska, with maps and items from each group. The first photo was taken very early, of a traditional house. Then there are woven and button garments, and the last photo is of some of the very fine sea grass basket weaving I commented on previously.

There was also an exhibit about polar bear dens. Evidently this is a reconstruction of one of them

Anchorage is broad. There is very little multi-storey development, there are lots of parks, and at least one freeway.

Near where I am staying (in the city centre) is a gravel and dirt block of land which currently has van/pop-up eateries, some portaloos and a giant tent with picnic tables and chairs. By June they expect to have up to 30 vendors. Here is the most amazing vendor.

As requested, I actually bought one of their concoctions. They put the banana in a vice to straighten it, cut the bottom, core the banana, and then slide one or two fillings into the hole. Peanut butter is popular. Many of the fillings are a similar colour to the banana, so for maximum effect, I chose Nutella and M&Ms. The vendor says they are very good as you peel them as you eat them, so there is no mess! Note: this was not my idea.