September 27 - Glennallen to Seward

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There was ice on the truck’s windshield when we left the motel. Boy was it cold. Hardly surprising after the icy night we experienced over night. We set off early. Glennallen was a way point not a destination, even though it won its place in our hearts as a destination. We hit the road at about 9:00 am. This time we saw a bunch of glaciers. We made frequent stops along the way to take pictures. Things got a little hairy though at about 10:30. We needed gas bad and there had been only one gas station so far and its price had been a full $1 higher than we were used to paying. We wished we had as Dan used the hills to good advantage to conserve on gas as we kept a sharp eye out for a gas station. Finally we see a gas station we pull up and there is a sign “gas station closed on Tuesday”. Oh man. This is not good. What else could we do we pushed on. There was a gas station reported to be further down the road and with-in reaching distance according to the GPS so we went on. Finally we get to the Rifle Lodge and gas. There was a bonus with the gas. Two actually a super friendly dog named Higgins and a big glacier right there next to the gas station. Shortly after, we also saw a moose eating grass in someone’s front yard; wild animal sighting number 3.
We stopped in Palmer for a hot lunch and pushed on south to Seward. The terrain changed dramatically. Oh heck the terrain of all of Alaska is dramatic. Who am I kidding, there isn’t a bad view in all of Alaska. I started to feel like I was experiencing a cold version of Hawaii. Not that I have ever been there. I have seen enough of the new Hawaii 5-O to get a good idea of what the mountains of Hawaii look like though. We saw even more glaciers. What a day for glaciers.
Half way between Anchorage and Seward is a wild animal conservatory. They advertised bear. It looked like our best opportunity to see bear so we pulled in and paid our $20 and drove on in. Oh kids did we see bear. We also saw bison, caribou, elk, an eagle and other wild critters. One bear even posed to have his picture taken. What a ham. Unfortunately, while taking pictures of the elk I dropped the lens cap and it rolled in the water. Oops. I had nearly lost the stupid thing so many times I just couldn’t get up the enthusiasm to be disappointed or angry at myself.
We got to the Holiday Inn Express in Seward without any further delay and settled in to the hot tub to soak away our travel aches. What a hard life we have been living on the road this last week and a half.

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