July 24, 2009

July 24, 2009

In the morning we stopped at Anchorage’s Earthquake Park. The park memorializes the 1964 Good Friday earthquake that hit southern Alaska. This 9.2 tremor was the biggest ever recorded in the northern hemisphere. It devastated the area destroying most bridges, roads and buildings. The ensuing tsunami swamped Alaska’s ports and killed people as far away as California. It was an inauspicious start for Alaska’s statehood. Earthquake Park sits at the site of the former Turnagain Heights neighborhood that sat atop this sandy bluff. It slid into the sea along with 75 homes.

It starts to drizzle rain, so we opt out of the outdoor plans we had. Instead we take advantage of our return to civilization and spend the afternoon at a cinema watching two movies. We see Angels and Demons and Night at the Museum II. We thought both were very good.