August 11-13, 2006 (Days 79-81)

Friday:
We awoke to gray skies and light rain. It was 52 degrees. Just before leaving, a walk around the trailer showed a low tire. Dan took the pressure reading and it was 37psi. (He keeps the tires at 60-65psi). This must indicate a leak, and we felt we needed to get it fixed before leaving Anchorage. On this day, we had not planned to drive with anyone and thought we could be on our own. We started driving to find a tire repair business. It took us seven stops, each one recommending another, pulling a trailer in and out of rush hour traffic in downtown Anchorage before we found a place to look at the tire. They found two slivers of metal imbedded in the tire which were causing the leak. They were pulled out, tire patched, and we were on our way at 11:00 a.m.

We stopped after an hour at the Portage Glacier, a recommended stop. By now, it was raining harder, had gotten colder, and we swore we had sleet on our jackets before we entered the visitors’ center there. The glacier was obscured by clouds, but we saw chunks of ice in the river. It was a nice visitors’ center with a nice gift shop and lunchroom. We decided to eat lunch there before leaving. Our timing was great, because just as we got our food, two tour busses drove up and unloaded about 60 people who waited in line for some time to get their food. There was just one cook and two waitresses. They said it was overwhelming to have that many people at one time, but they were used to the buses.

We drove on toward Seward. There are many lakes and rivers. It is said Alaska has three times the amount of lakes as Minnesota. We arrived in Seward at 3:30 p.m. We were the last ones to arrive. The clouds were hanging over the mountain tops. There was road construction. They must hurry as winter is coming in six weeks. A football game at the school held up parking somewhat, but we finally got set up on the school parking lot. No utilities here. We joined the Kolley’s and Ed at a seafood restaurant on the waterfront for dinner.

Seward is on Resurrection Bay, east coast of the Kenai Peninsula, and is at sea level. Seward was voted the “All-America City of 2005”. It is an ocean terminal and supply center. Fish processing plants were abundant in the town. The smell was in the air at all times. Historically, Seward was an important transportation hub for Alaska’s mining, exploration, fishing and trapping industries. The town was established in 1903 by railroad surveyors. The Iditarod trail was surveyed in 1910 as a mail route between Seward and Nome. It was used until 1924 when it was replaced by the airline industry. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that is run each March between Anchorage and Nome actually starts in Seward.

Resurrection Bay is a year-round ice-free harbor. Its economic base includes tourism, a coal terminal, marine research, and fisheries.


Saturday:
We were up bright and early to get ready for a bus ride to the boat for a day-long Kenai Fjord Cruise. This cruise is Alaska’s #1 wildlife and glacier cruise. The boat was three levels, all enclosed and held about 150 people. As we cruised toward the glaciers, we had incredible wildlife sightings. We saw sea otters, stellar sea lions, harbor seals, humpback whales, many species of birds (including puffins and bald eagles) and on our return trip, a large pod of orca whales. There were several families of them. The narrator, who is a whale specialist, said it was the most orca whales she has ever seen in one place. She estimated 30-40. They came within 50 feet of the boat. All this, plus the views of some awesome glaciers. The captain got the boat up close to the glaciers. We saw some ice fall into the water as it cracked and came loose from the glacier.

The water was quite choppy, and people were advised to take seasick medicine if they had it. Many headed for the drug store at the pier to buy Dramamine before boarding! The water was rough. There were many people—men, women, and children—with seasick bags all through the cruise. We were lucky and didn’t suffer.

A couple hours into the cruise, they served us lunch. It was a finger-food lunch of either halibut or chicken fingers. We both had chicken. I know that’s a surprise, but I had had halibut the last three meals and felt I needed a change. I’m sure getting my Omega-3 supplement (from fish) on this trip!


Sunday:
It felt good to sleep in this morning. We were really tired after our day-long cruise, but what a great day. Dan worked on the shelves in the pantry which were about to cave in again. We’re just hoping that Silver Tent will make it back to Wentzville before it completely falls apart! Later, we drove around the downtown area of Seward and toured the Alaska Sealife Center. It was a very nice sealife learning center, and we enjoyed it.

We drove to Exit Glacier, about ten miles out of town. It is a glacier you can walk to, but it was about a one mile walk, and I didn’t feel I could do it. We could see the glacier, though, and it was beautiful. There had been bear sightings on the trail that day and the day before, which I didn’t want to encounter.

In the evening, we had a driver’s meeting to prepare us for the day tomorrow when we drive to Homer, AK. Till then……