Our
first day of land tour!
We had the whole day to get to Seward so we woke up
leisurely and checked out of the hotel. We decided to skip their optional breakfast, and
instead headed to the nearby
Granny B's for a hearty old-style American
breakfast with lots of eggs, meats and free refill coffees. We liked the food
and loved the décor - Alaska and Anchorage memorabilia and what-not on the
walls.
We
headed to Carrs on the corner of Minnesota and Northern Lights for stocking up
with snacks and water for the road. Then drove down the Seward Highway and
along the Turnagain Arm. Day started off with very nice weather - scattered
clouds with patches of blue sky and sunshine, which made for very nice sights and
photos in the first scenic turnouts.
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| Turnagain Arm |
As we drove further down the arm, it became
more and more cloudy. We turned into Girdwood to try our luck with the Alyeska
Tram but from weather didn't seem promising so due to the high cost we decided
to pass. We stopped at
The Bake Shop for coffee and got sandwiches for lunch,
then continued down the highway.
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Girdwood
|
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The Bake Shop
|
By the time we got the
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center it was constantly raining. This was perhaps the only
disappointment in our Alaska trip. The place was muddy and looked a bit run
down. Signage was poor and although the place is not too big, it was difficult
to follow the right directions (some of the lanes are one-way). We did love
seeing the Moose, Elks and Musk Oxen, but the grizzly bears were just lying
there and didn't look at place at all, it was quite disheartening.
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| Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) |
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| AWCC |
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AWCC Brown Bear
|
Before we left we looked for a place to eat the lunch we had with us, but all of the picnic tables were out in the rain, so we ended up eating in our car. We really appreciate the good conservation intentions, and the entrance fees are very reasonable, but the overall experience was not what we expected
.
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| AWCC views |
After AWCC we continued towards Seward. We
stopped at Canyon Creek for some nice views of the river. But further ahead it
was rainy and foggy and although we were on the beautiful Seward Highway, we
saw very little of it, so we simply continued on.
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| Canyon Creek |
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| Seward Highway |
We
turned on the
Exit Glacier road. We've seen the glacier in photos before, but we
were still amazed by the first sight of the glacier from the road, hanging over
the valley. Simply beautiful!
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Exit Glacier
|
We were trying to get to the park in time for the 4PM ranger walk, but were delayed by roadwork just a mile or two before getting there… we arrived 15 minutes late but the rangers in the visitor center directed us to the route of the walk and we were able to catch up with her and the group after the first view point.
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Exit Glacier
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The ranger hikes takes you to the easily
accessible 'glacier view' point and then goes up to the 'glacier edge' point
which is as close to the glacier you can get without climbing up the Harding
Icefield trail. You can get there yourself of course (trails are well marked)
but we were glad we caught up with the ranger since in addition to the
beautiful glacier views, she provided a lot of interesting information about
the glacier history, flora and fauna in the park area.
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Near the Glacier
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She showed us where a
big piece of the glacier toe collapsed only 2 days before, changing the moraine
flow and landscape, probably due to the unusual excessive rains. She was
definitely excited about it!
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| Exit Glacier Moraine |
Overall we spent almost 2 hours in the park and
enjoyed it a lot. But it was raining during most of the walk so by the time we
were back down, even our waterproof jackets felt soggy so we were happy to
get into our car and drive to Seward.
We
reached Seward towards 6:30PM and went straight to the
Sunshine House B&B which
we reserved for the night. The B&B is located on the edge of town, 2 minutes walking from the Waterfront Park, not far from the Sea Life Center. It is 5 minutes drive to the harbor. The house looks small from the outside but it is fully renovated with a large living room (available to the guests). Our room was very comfortable with all modern facilities. Marsha is a warm host (David her husband was not in). she provided us with lots of useful information and tips. We enjoyed our stay very much and were sorry we had only one night in Seward!
We hoped we can
still make the Sea Life Center but we also knew restaurants in Seward close
early, so after settling down we drove to the harbor for dinner. We picked
Ray's over Chinooks, simply because it was raining and Ray's was closer to where
we parked… Ray's was 'as advertised' – nice views and somewhat overpriced food,
but we enjoyed our time there.
After dinner it was too late for the Sea Life Center. The rain stopped so we strolled a bit on the harbor docks. We noticed a commotion in the water and checked it out, it was a pair of sea otters, I don't know if they were playing, fighting or courting, but they were fun to watch (we usually saw them solitary).
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| Otters at the Harbor |
After that it was still light so we drove back
to the B&B and walked to the nearby
Waterfront Park and got some good last
light photos of Resurrection Bay.
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Waterfront Park, Seward
|
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| Resurrection Bay Panorama |
We were quite impressed by the facilities put
by the town for the campers. We read on the historic signs that this is an
intentional policy in Seward to following the 1964 earthquake and Tsunami which
wiped out big part of the city – encourage camping which can be quickly
evacuated, instead of hotels. That was very interesting.
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| Waterfront Park, Seward |
We returned to the
B&B an closed a busy day. This was the only day when weather really
affected our enjoyment, but even so it was a very good day. It was also exactly
the 1/2 time mark for our trip.
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