On to Anchorage - Friday the 13th

Suitcases out the door at 6 am, 7 am departure on the bus, going southeast out of Denali.  Bret spotted a moose and a fox, also seen by Bryn as they were on the right side of the bus.  We made a stop at Mary Carey's McKinley Inn, yet again clouds prevented a view of the mountain.  However, bits of white clouds looked lovely hanging low against the nearly-black mountains. It was damp and misty today. Our lunch stop was in Wasilla, with a choice of fast food restaurants. We picked A&W Root Beer.  Turns out this infamous town is like a suburb of Anchorage, with a big Fred Mayer grocery-and-everything-else store (remember Gemco? like that), plus a Walmart.
We arrived at the Clarion Suites hotel in Anchorage around 2 pm, but could not check in. We left our luggage then walked 14 blocks downtown, there was an army-navy surplus store that Reed wanted to check out.   We saw the little visitor center, and Bret sat on the 5,116 lb Alaska Jade boulder, the state gem.  Randy spotted a barber shop and got a haircut while Bryn and the boys visited the Alaska Veterans Museum.  This celebrates both veterans from Alaska, and veterans from Alaskan wars.  While Bret and Reed took turns at the flight simulator, Bryn had a nice chat with the director about the battle of Kiska and the 10th Mountain Division, and will be sending her some things about them sometime in the future.
Following our late hotel check-in, we had a delicious dinner in an Irish pub.  While the boys swam in the indoor pool, Mom did some laundry and Dad caught up on computer things.