Blogs from Seward, Alaska, United States, North America - page 6

Today we planned on just relaxing. We slept in a bit, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, toured the town in the car and took a boat ride. What we really wanted was helicopter tour of a glacier but most of the tour companies were closed for the season. The boat ride was amazing. We mostly toured Redemption bay which included two major, named glaciers. We saw bald eagles, sea lions, an otter, a mountain goat and many birds. It was both relaxing and informative. We took a lot of pictures and video. The best thing is, we really feel like we did take it easy today. ... read more

Thursday night -Anchorage. Friday - quick walk to check out the Byron glacier and ice cave, hiking exit glacier/harding icefield (3,000 ft 8 miles round trip), starting in rainforest, then wildflowers, moving to tundra, and finally near arctic conditions, surprisingly many Asian tourists in dresses??, difficult hike for so many people, at the end the cutest little ermine/weasel played peek-a-boo with us as we photographed it, the little guy ran in and out of the rocks popping up right next to our shoes. Saturday - sore legs, begin drive to Whittier, run to our car because we are nowhere near it and cars are now driving into the 2 mile tunnel, kayak among bald eagles, salmon runs (Pinks I think), see thousands of Kittiwakes nesting between 2 waterfalls (they need the algae that only grows in ... read more

The Alaska Marine Highway ferry ride was great. After driving onto the ferry, we just relaxed and watched the scenery go by as the Captain did the driving, no bad roads, no loose gravel, no construction, no pilot cars. At one spot, several orcas had gathered and were jumping around. The captain turned the boat in a circle around them so all the passengers could get a great view. I got one great photo of a baby orca breeching. As we pulled into Whittier, more glaciers, more beautiful waterfalls. Off the boat and onto the road toward the TUNNEL. We were quite fortunate; we got there when our side got the green light to proceed. Proceeding into the dark and damp tunnel while driving on train tracks felt ominous. After 2.5 miles, the light at the ... read more

Day 5 Sunday, July 10, 2011 We picked up the motor home at Great Alaskan Holidays and then stopped and did our shopping. I thought $330.00 is a lot of money, but then it is for 10 days for 4 people, not too bad. We drove south down the Kenai and stopped at Girdwood for lunch. We made a little lunch and then I tried to cut off my fingers. After a little ER, we were on our way to the town of Hope, made famous by the gold rush. There were the twin towns of Hope & Sunrise, but Sunrise is gone and Hope remains, no analogy intended. We then decided to camp in Seward, about 75 miles south of Hope. The first campground was straight out of deliverance, but the second had great mountain ... read more

Seward, Alaska, 27 juin. Trois jours déjà que je suis arrivé à l'autre bout du continent. Après un court moment à Anchorage, j'ai pris la direction sud vers la péninsule de Kenaï où je ne cesse de m'émerveiller. Les montagnes, la mer, les animaux (j'ai vu loutre, aigle à tête blanche et ours noir déjà), tout est à couper le souffle! Deux coup de coeur jusqu'à présent: le petit village de Homer, tout au bout d'une pointe de sable et de gravier, avec un décor de montagnes d'une saisissante beauté. Le tremblement de terre de la semaine dernière a donné toute une frousse aux habitants du coin, une alerte au tsunami ayant été déclenchée (rien de tel ne s'est heureusement produit). Je suis maintenant à Seward, une jolie ville au creux du fjord de la résurrection ... read more