August 14

Awoke to low gray skies, humidity, no rain.  Slow going morning. A last big breakfast of blueberry pancakes/maple syrup, pork and reindeer sausage.  Stop at Ulu Factory for last purchases and visit the Anchorage Museum.  There is a lot of construction at the museum to expand their space.  The usual Alaskana history displays are down but the beautiful native culture display is up.  An evolving display of modern art is very evocative, some very confusing. They have added on the Imaginarium a children’s science discovery center.  We have a good time trying out all  the different experiments and activities.  There is also a Learning Center  under the auspices of the Smithsonian, one of only four in the US. We stop off at Muse, the museum café for tea.  Dinner at Brenna and Zach’s tonight.  Amy and Terry, Zach’s parents are coming over too.  We set the table outside under cloudy skies.  We have a fire burning in the outdoor fire pit.  There is a smorgasbord of food.  Marinated and grilled steak and chicken, king crab, salad, rosemary potatoes, sautéed zucchini and zucchini marinara, Fire Island wheat bread, finishing with Amy’s famous apple pie and ice cream.  We don’t have room for s’mores.  Amy and Terry have given Minde a beautiful hand carved wood pen for her graduation.  Dean has calm funny moments and entertains us all just by looking cute.  We picked up his one month photos and they are darling. He has changed just in this second month. Getting late.  Minde’s last night in Alaska.  Glad to have a nice family send off dinner before she goes.  Night.