My grandparents first landed in Alaska in the 50s to work on the Alaska railroad.  My grandfather had worked the railroad in west Texas & east New Mexico and decided to pick up his family and move to Alaska.  They had 2 kids still living at home, my dad was in his senior year of high school and my aunt, Marie.  However, my dad did not move with his parents.  He was able to stay in a garage apartment of some family friends to finish out his senior year, so aunt Marie was their only child to move with them.

A year later my dad graduated high school and made his way to college in Las Vegas, New Mexico (yes New Mexico, not Nevada) where he met my mom and they were married by summer.  The intrigue of moving to Alaska never left my dad and somehow my mom caught the bug as well.  As my  parents say, they honeymooned the AlCan, the Alaska Canadian highway, in 1953.

The railroad holds lots of history and memories for my family.  I remember stories from my grandma.  The most interesting thing I remember was taking a trip with her to Skagway, Alaska.  It was a trip with my parents and 2 grandmas.  We drove our motorhome up through central Alaska, down to Whitehorse, Canada and took a train to Skagway putting our motorhome on the train (we sat in a train car for the ride).


While on the train she began pointing out various places along the way where they had worked the railroad.  It didn't take long before my grandmother had quite a crowd of people around her as she shared points of interest and tales of old, one after another.

Skagway is a beautiful location and is a popular stop on some of the Alaskan cruises.  If you ever find yourself on an Alaskan cruise in Skagway you MUST take the train ride tour.  It is a beautiful ride!!











At the giftshop I also found this book, which I plan on getting soon!!  Outhouses of Alaska!!  Outhouses are still sometimes all you can find in the middle of nowhere Alaska, other than a bush or a tree!!


Definitely add a train ride through Alaska's countryside to your list of things to do while in Alaska!

It is located right across from Merrill Field, a small plane airfield.  A large portion of Alaska is accessible only by bush plane.  If that kind of thing interests you I recommend watching Fly Wild Alaska.  It gives a realistic picture of what it's like to fly bush planes in Alaska.  It is a very interesting show and amazes me the weather conditions that these pilots fly in on a daily basis.



My kids learned about Peggy's by watching Sarah Palin's Alaska when Sarah & Piper helped served at Peggy's and picked up some famous pies.  You can see some of the pictures behind Reegan, below.






I tell ya, my daughter does not know a stranger!!  If a waitress is the least bit nice, she will hug them to pieces!!  This waitress didn't mind one bit!  We enjoyed chatting with her.  She had just moved to Alaska a few months prior.  This was only her second day working at Peggy's.







I use to think Texans were a proud bunch, but visiting Alaska I realized that Alaskans could surely compete as a proud people!!  There aren't many places you go where you won't find a totem pole, a stuffed Alaskan animal, airplane paraphernalia, mining equipment, native Eskimo items, or fishing gear.






Jerry liked Peggy's sausage gravy better than Gwennie's, but I preferred my Gwennie's over Peggy's.  Their french toast was better and the memories from long ago made it much more special!!

If you ever find yourself in Anchorage, AK I would recommend both places for the history!!  Both of them have been icons for many years.

I hope you are enjoying my tour of Alaska.  I have SO much more to come!!

Anchorage is Alaska's biggest city with a population of just under 300,000 people.  It's my birthplace and it holds so many memories!