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Yesterday, we left Seward for Anchorage traveling on the Alaska Railroad.
We saw quite a few moose along the way and some amazing scenery. Take a look at the pictures and you’ll be surprised to see how much snow was still on the ground. The train only reached an elevation of about 1,000 feet, but the mountains on the Kenai Peninsula accumulate and hold lots of snow.

We reached Anchorage at about 10:30. It was 11:00 by the time we checked in to our room and found a restaurant. So we were eating dinner at about 11:30 and it was still sort of light outside. Their “dark” is not like our dark at all. In the summer, anyway. No flashlights required, that’s for sure.

We were a little late getting started this morning, which was cool because we didn’t have to be anywhere at any certain time. So we took our time on the 220+ mile drive up the Parks Highway to Denali National Park. The Parks Highway really is not all that picturesque; the Seward Highway puts it to shame. Until you start getting closer to the Alaska Range.

The picture above is proof. Mt. McKinley–20,320 feet–is in there somewhere, but the top is obscured by clouds, as it often is. Still, it is a cool picture.

I’m not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow, but I am sure we’ll find something to do. I can always find things to take pictures of…

Sadly, today is the day we leave Seward and the Alaskan coast behind. It is tough, I have to admit, because I just love it here. We couldn’t afford to stay very long, though. Things are ridiculously expensive. A typical lunch in a restaurant is about $30. The regular price for a twelve-pack of canned Pepsi at Safeway is $7.49. A mid-size bag of Fritos that would cost about $2.49 – $2.99 at home is $5.25. Dinners are costly, too. And regular unleaded gas is going for $4.61 per gallon.

But it sure is pretty! All of the pictures from today are just shots I took as Mike and I walked around, killing time before our 6:00 PM train ride back to Anchorage.

I had Mike take a picture of me with several critters located at various spots in the area. And I took a bunch of pictures of the view. The Seward boat harbor is quite picturesque. And they sell really good fish, too.

Seward is by far my favorite Alaskan city so far. Sitka was cute, but tiny. Juneau was just gross. The downtown area, anyway. So far, we’ve only seen the Anchorage airport and a small slice of the city; we stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s, which was very disappointing because they don’t serve bagels out here anymore.

We hear Anchorage is just a city. It isn’t a destination anyway, just a place we have to get to to go to and from the various vacation spots. We’ll spend the night there tonight then will rent a car tomorrow and head north to Denali, where we’ll be staying until at least Thursday.

I’ll sign off with my favorite (I think) picture of the Seward boat harbor. Internet access will be very iffy after today. If you don’t see any updates, that is why.

I think it was 45 degrees when we left our room this morning. We had to be at the dock at 7:00 AM to check in for our Kenai Fjords boat tour. It was cloudy and overcast, too. This is normal weather for Seward. I know my Mom would FREEZE, but I love it.

Would I miss sunshine? Maybe. It does get sunny here occasionally. Like the deckhand on our boat said, when it does get sunny it makes it all worthwhile.

It is just so gorgeous. I was worried that today’s boat tour would be a lot like the Glacier Bay tour because they are both tours with a goal of seeing glaciers and wildlife. But it was different. We weren’t in a protected bay the whole time like at Glacier Bay. We started out in Resurrection Bay, but to get to the other bays where the fjords are, we actually went out into the Pacific Ocean. Not far, but far enough to experience 4-foot seas in water that is 1,500 feet deep!

The deckhand said they were “only”4-foot swells. They felt a lot bigger. We were on a smallish tour boat — about 48 or 52 feet — but it rode well in the water. It was lots of fun. Although I kept thinking of my Aunt Bertha who would really have enjoyed the wildlife, but would have totally hated the waves.

Anyway, the Kenai Fjords Tour was AWESOME. The glaciers were cool — Holgate Glacier is 600 feet tall at the face and 3/4 mile across — but seeing at least a dozen orcas (killer whales, like Shamu) rocked. There’s just something about seeing them in the wild that is hard to describe. At one point after the whales submerged, the captain was ready to leave the area. Then we realized the whales were on a direct path for the boat. And I was right in the middle, facing the whales, as they swam toward and then dove under the boat. It was so cool I almost cried.

The best part of that is, I had my camera set for continuous shooting mode, so I got the entire sequence in pictures. You can see for yourself on my Picasa page.

It is hard to believe we have only been here a week, we’ve seen so much. And we still haven’t gone to Denali National Park, which I thought was going to be the highlight of the trip. I really don’t think it could possibly get better.

One final note… Mike and I may now be addicted to Halibut. I am not sure if it because it is so fresh, or if it is just the way they cook it, but the Halibut has been delicious. We already know we’re having Halibut and Chips for lunch tomorrow before we leave!

Today we made our way from Juneau to Seward via Anchorage. I’m sure y’all have heard of both Juneau and Anchorage, but you probably have not heard of Seward. And although you have heard of Juneau and Anchorage, you probably have no idea where they are. To make it a bit easier on everyone, I have included a couple of maps. The first one is a bigger map of Alaska showing the places we’ve been so far. The second is a close up of south central Alaska.

To give you an idea of scale, it takes almost as long to fly from Juneau to Anchorage as it does to fly from Baltimore to Orlando, Florida. Once we arrived in Anchorage, we rented a car and drove south to Seward, which is located on the Kenai Peninsula (pronounced “keen-eye”). Looking at the map below, the body of land below and to the left of Anchorage is the Kenai Peninsula. Seward, indicated by the green arrow, is a town on the Kenai Peninsula. Just below and to the left of Seward is Kenai Fjords National Park, the real reason we came here in the first place.

One more map reference for you before I describe our day… the body of water directly below Anchorage that separates the city from the Kenai Peninsula is Turnagain Arm.

Now that my geography lesson is complete, I can continue…

We flew into Anchorage, rented a car, and headed south to Seward on the Seward Highway, which follows the shoreline of Turnagain Arm for quite a few miles. There are mountains all over the place. On a cliff beside the road we saw our first Dall sheep.

On the way to Seward, we stopped at Exit Glacier. There you can actually walk to the face of a glacier. The guidebooks forgot to mention that the half-mile trail would likely still be covered by snow.

Last but not least I have to mention the highlight of the day … we saw a Mama moose (cow) and two babies (twins!). Mike and I estimate they were about a week old.

NOTE: I am a day behind in my posts because our connection is really slow. Hopefully I’ll get today’s (Saturday) highlights posted, too.

There isn’t much to talk about today because we basically spent the day getting from one place to the other. The journey wasn’t long, it was just the only goal for the day. Well, that and relax, too. This is vacation after all.

We left Glacier Bay National Park–sadly–and flew back to Juneau. Tomorrow, we catch a 7:22 AM flight to Anchorage. Once there, we rent a car and head south to Seward, the jumping off point for a visit to Kenai Fjords National Park. The entire Kenai Peninsula is supposed to be gorgeous, so I expect there will be more pictures to see tomorrow.

There was one really cool thing that happened today, but I didn’t get a picture of it. While Mike and I were waiting for lunch to be served, enjoying the view from the deck of the Glacier Bay Lodge (see photo below)…

… Mike noticed some Bald Eagles flying toward us. There were three of them. The one on the left was about 6 feet away from the two on the right, who appeared to be chasing each other, playing. Well, they kept flying straight for us. When they were about 15 feet away, they banked sharply to the right. They were so close, we heard their feathers ruffle; it sounded sort of like a kite or a flag sounds when being whipped about on a windy day. That is the kind of stuff that is common at Glacier Bay. It was sad to leave. Knowing we still have lots to look forward to made it easier.

I expect Kenai Fjords will be just as incredible, but topping Glacier Bay will be hard.