Eric had a four day weekend for Memorial Day and even though the forecast was terrible...rain, rain, and more rain (and not so warm temps), we decided to do as Alaskans do...go out in the cold and rain anyway :) We left Friday morning pretty early to drive to Seward,...a seaside town about 120 miles south of Anchorage. We drove on the Seward Highway--the most beautiful drive (we've posted pics before) and we arrived in Seward around 11am. We decided to stay in a family owned B&B which was rated #1 on Trip Advisor. We dropped our things off and headed out for the day.
We were famished so headed out to another highly rated restaurant called The Smoke Shack. While we waited (they only had 6 tables, we walked around the harbor).
Even in the rain, it looks beautiful!
This is where we headed for lunch...
Luckily, it wasn't a train wreck and we had the most delicious meal! They even have a few vegetarian options...according to our waitress, half of the population is vegetarian?! I wanted to get pics, but I felt a bit awkward taking photos inside this small place, which was literally a train car. As I said, there were only 6 tables.
Slight mountain views through the fog/clouds
Houses right on the ridge..
The Alaska SeaLife Center was open and is a major attraction. We decided to head there. We were especially captivated by the Sealions. What amazing creatures! The one male (pictured below) was in the habitat with 3 females. The center was desperately trying to get the male and one of the females to mate. It was quite the ordeal watching this whole ritual. The male was huge...weighing 2,000 lbs!
There were two females in the corner but he wasn't interested in them as they were too "easy"...the other female (just introduced to the habitat when we arrived) was playing very hard to get. She was swimming all around (weighed wayyy less than him so she could out swim him, quite easily).
She's taunting him
We stayed around a while and then spoke to some of the employees about the center.. it was really quite interesting.
Views from the SeaLife Center
View of the female sea lion from another view below
Afterwards, we decided to take a hike to Exit Glacier. Wow, there was so much snow...4 feet deep! Glad we were prepared with our rain gear because it started to drizzle.
We finally made it to the Glacier!
As we hiked back, there were marker signs of where the glacier spread to dating back to the early 1900s. It has melted a great deal since they have started to track it.
Views of the park as we left Exit Glacier
After spending our day outside in the rain, all we wanted was a warm meal and to thaw out. We headed to Ray's restaurant for a delicious meal and then back to the B and B for their special ice cream bars. The woman who owns the B and B with her husband has been selling these ice cream bars at state festivals for years. She offers these complimentary to their guests.
Yummy!
We thought the snow/ice would have been melted on the lake outside the B and B, but alas, it is Alaska, and it was still there :) We'll have to head back when it's all melted! This shot was taken around 11pm!
View from our bedroom.
The next day, we were off on a 8 hour cruise to the Kenai Fjiords National Park.
Aboard the boat
Less cloudy/foggy today so we could see a bit more. Would love to be here when it's sunny!
Sites as we leave the harbor and go out on to the open water.
This is the pipe where they put all the fish that they catch so they can clean it. Imagine how many fish have gone through this system?
Let the wildlife sightings begin!
Can you spot the bald eagle?
Mountain goat and her baby just a few weeks old
Seals
Sea otters, posing for us
We saw so many whales....humpback and killer and dolphins
Eric got this great shot of the whale's tail
Another glacier that we stopped at for a while. They were waiting for it to "calve" (when part of the glacier falls into the water, but it didn't do it for us.
In front of the glacier...not the best pic, but proof we were there!
Our friend Mike we met who was staying at the same B and B
More glacier views as we left
Can you spot the bear?
Dolphin...I think
These birds were loud and crazy....sooooo many!
Another mountain goat and her baby
Sea lions
After 6.5 hours of sailing, we were ready to get back on dry land. The boat stopped at Fox Island for some dinner, souvenir shopping and skipping stones.
After stopping on Fox Island, we headed back to the harbor. By this time, it was almost 6:30pm.
We spotted this barge carrying the sea shipments of many a people moving to Alaska (we think)...we imagine that our things were shipped just like this....which makes me so nervous! Our things have made it across the ocean 3 times so I guess what you don't know, doesn't hurt you!
After a wonderful two days in Seward, it was time to head back to Anchorage. It's funny how quickly our houses become a home for us now a days...and how good it felt to get back home after being gone just one night.
We'll definitely be back to this sweet town of Seward, Alaska.
We'll definitely be back to this sweet town of Seward, Alaska.
