Captain James Cook was among the first European explorers to map the Alaskan coastline, and many of the geographical features (mountains, islands, rivers, waterways, etc.) still bear the names he gave them. Cook was searching for the fabled Northwest Passage, a route that would provide a shorter means of reaching the Pacific from Europe than the difficult Northwest Passage around the north of Asia, or south around South America. On May 15, 1778, after enduring weeks of hard weather, Cook turned into an inlet and anchored his ship, at a place he called “Anchor Point” (later named “Anchorage”). He never found the Northwest Passage.

Following a black bear from the train. Before we could start filming, this the bear was about 3 feet from the train tracks.

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Sunset from the train entering Anchorage:

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One of many glacier we saw: