Wednesday, Aug. 17th - From Anchorage to Seward

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our last stop before Seward was the Exit Glacier. We've seen the glacier in photos before, but we were still amazed by the first sight of the glacier from the access road, hanging over the valley. Simply beautiful!

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.

The ranger hike takes you to the easily accessible 'Glacier View' point and then climbs up to the 'Glacier Edge' point, which is as close as you can get to the glacier 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.

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!

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).

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.

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.

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.