After the cruise, we went to Denali National Park and Preserve. With the vagaries of travel we opted to get off the boat, bus from Seward to Anchorage (2 hours) and then stay the night vs. hopping right onto another bus for the 6-ish hour trip to the park and our lodge.

Anchorage is an interesting city. In the 60s there was a big earthquake and they had to rebuild much of the city.
They’re also hemmed in by water, permafrost and mountains so real estate is at a premium.
Yet, they didn’t, and aren’t building up…
The tallest building we saw was maybe 15 floors? 10 tops. Sure they’re on a fault line, but so is all of California and Los Angeles ain’t being shy about reaching for the clouds with their buildings.

I imagine Anchorage is what Denver was like until the late 80s. Car centric, empty when not a work day. The parking garage in this pic, is new. It likely replaced a surface lot, of which Anchorage has no shortage of.
I don’t know if it is a revenue thing, a lack of interest thing, or what, but as tourists, Anchorage was bleak. Which is sad because there’s no shortage of awesome history, it’s just not well displayed.
We were there on a day (Monday) that I guess people don’t work? Downtown was empty except for the unhoused. Tuesday before we got on the bus, the city was very different. The surface lots filled in, people were walking around. Still a bleak get where you’re going fast, kind of busy-ness, but better than the ghost town that was Monday.