Anchorage to Seward: a 2.5 hour trip that took 9

---

I got behind a day with blogging. I'm not sure why but I can't seem to just blog the highlights. Since I've started this thing I've gotten hooked on not missing writing about a day of travels. So...After another great breakfast and a quick shopping trip to buy rain jackets (yes, Barry and I now have matching black/grey Alaska jackets!) we loaded the car and headed out of Anchorage. We were all very ready to see what this state really looks like. Between Lonely Planet and Fodor's, Marcy and I had planned lots of stops along the way and what could have been a 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage to Seward actually took us 9 hours but it was awesome. We stopped at Potter's Marsh and saw a bald eagle in a tree along with other birds and lots of animal tracks in the marshes but no moose or bears 😞. We looked for Dall Sheep and whales at Turnagain Arm (unsuccessfully), got down to the shore of Turnagain at Beluga Point (still no whales). We had a great lunch at the Bake Shop in Girdwood and finally saw moose, bears, bison, and 2 more bald eagles at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It doesn't exactly count since the animals were kept there for rehabilitation because of injuries but still very special. And finally we hiked along Byron Glacier Trail, over snow at some points, to see the Byron Glacier and it was blue in spots. (Who knew glacier ice was blue?). It was a great short hike, even if it was raining (the new jackets came in very handy!) and chilly. By this time we were exhausted and still had an hour left of the drive to Seward but we made it in the pouring rain at that point and checked in to the Hotel Seward...a pretty odd hotel with lots of taxidermy in the lobby. We found an Italian/Greek restaurant which, along with a bottle of malbec, ended our day very nicely. it's a short blog for an awesome day but I'll add lots of pictures which really tell the story better than anything I can say.

---

Photos

Potter's Marsh
Tree swallows

Potter's Marsh
Yes, we do have matching jackets.

Tracks in the marsh
The elusive moose? bear?

Turnagain Arm
Books say it's the best place to see Beluga Whales..maybe but not for us

Our traveling buddies
at Turnagain Arm

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
Finally, a moose!

Our other traveling companions
Looks like rain drops got on the lens at Byron Glacier

Crossing over snow
to get closer to the glacier

Byron glacier
It is actually blue.

Comments

[Shira]

AWESOME~~
Wow! Those pictures are awesome. Also, I am a bit concerned that my parents have matching rain jackets. That is just the perfect storm of cute and creepy. Keep having fun! Love the blog!

[Maury]

Is that really snow...?
Maybe you've heard about our 90 plus heat wave that won't let up...just seeing those pictures of the snow was a great relief! Love your descriptions (am impressed that you knew the bird was a tree swallow!) - can't wait to hear more!

[Yair]

Who is that smiling man with his arm around you? Does Uncle Barry know about this?

[robin]

vacation
You're trip looks amazing! Don't worry about all of us here sitting for 8 hrs in a nurses office cleaning boo boos. Enjoy!