Maggie, Flattop, and the Moose's Tooth

Today's travels in AK started out at the Alaska Zoo. It's really a nice little zoo, well kept, very green, and not 90 degrees. (Like it would have been at the Columbus Zoo today.) We walked around the whole thing in about two hours, and they have some very nice exhibits.

We did get to see a local celebrity, Maggie the Elephant. Maggie has been a resident of the Alaska Zoo since 1983, and is the source of some local controversy. There are those that think Maggie shouldn't be kept in the rather harsh and un-elephant climate of Alaska, and the other side that thinks people should have the ability to see a live elephant at their zoo so long as her health isn't in danger. That's the short, "I'm visiting from Ohio," recap.

As it turns out, today was Maggie's big day, the zoo decided it was in her best interest to move her south. A decision as to where hasn't been made, but they want her flown and checked out by two independent vets to ensure that she is healthy enough to fly.

After leaving the zoo, we headed towards Flattop to the south east of Anchorage. I say "towards" because it wasn't all that easy to find. Mom couldn't recall the exact route, the maps we'd looked at the night before told half the story, and even a guy mom asked wasn't totally sure. (If you're up here and looking for how to get there, take O'Malley Rd, to Hilltop Rd, to Upper Huffman Dr and follow the sign at the top of Upper Huffman which points you left and up a gravel road.)

Once there, we paid the parking fee and walked up to the observation area. The observation area gave us a great view of Anchorage, Susitna, Cook Inlet, and way off in the distance you could see the Alaska range, including Denali. (Mt. McKinley to you lower 48 types.) It was a bit hazy, so Denali wasn't in clear view, but you could see the snow covered peaks off in the distance. Behind us on the observation deck was Flattop, which is one of the most visited parks by the locals. You can hike up to the top of Flattop, but we opted against it sticking with the much easier observation area.

After taking in the first two periods of the Cup Finals, we headed off to the Moose's Tooth. This place came recommended from mom and two of the tour guides on the train yesterday. It's simple, pizza and beer, but they do both very well. (I've yet to have a bad micro-brew up here, guess the long winters make for some good brewers.) To continue the world beer tour, I had a four beer sampler - Alpenglow Amber, Pipeline Stout, their ESB, and their Fairweather IPA - and followed it up with a glass of the ESB. Though, the IPA may have been the best, I opted for the ESB because I'd had an IPA downtown on Monday.

That pretty much closed out our Wednesday. We're likely heading off to a glacier tomorrow, but who knows.