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Lily Lake
We were hoping to see moose, but no such luck today. We left Glennallen a little later than usual to drive to Seward. We drove past many mountain ranges, but saw little because of the haze. I love the effect that type of picture has, but more for the background of scrapbook pages. It made for a quicker drive, though, because we didn’t stop nearly as often as usual.
We were very excited to get into Anchorage and discover civilization—an actual 4-6 lane level highway. Our excitement didn’t last long, though, because we discovered the ruts. I would love to have measured them, because they were deep enough to be noticeable to me, the passenger, and went on for miles.
The Seward Highway also has beautiful scenery and the haze let up a little bit. I loved driving around Turnagain Arm. We were near low tide and the mud flats were fascinating. We saw a few glaciers, but couldn’t identify which was which. We also drove past many people gawking upward at a mountain. I assume they were looking at Dall sheep, but traffic was such that we could not stop to see for ourselves. I’m hoping to look on the way back.
After arriving in Seward, we followed
Chugach Mountains
We saw this haze everywhere we drove today. directions to our campground—Miller’s Landing. The road we were instructed to take—Lowell Point Road—curves between a cliff and the ocean and is often not much wider than one lane. Thankfully, it did actually take us to our destination. We are parked on a slight bluff just above the rocky beach with a view of Seward and the mountains across Resurrection bay.
Since we still had plenty of time, we decided to do a little sight-seeing. Our first stop was the Alaska SeaLife Center, an aquarium that was expensive for its size, but entertaining. We learned about the lives of salmon, creatures of the deep, and sea birds. For example, puffins can dive to 300 feet to catch fish. It’s impressive how long they can stay down. We also watched Skittles, a sea otter who will be traveling to his new home out east this summer. Liam’s favorite activity was the touch tank, where he was able to touch anemone, sea stars and sea urchins. Anemone feel like nothing at all; it was weird.
Our second stop was Exit Glacier, a unit of Kenai Fjords National Park. We all decided to walk to the viewpoint, but I thought we
should get closer. Floyd & Jeff volunteered to walk to the toe of the glacier for better photos, while Judy & I stayed with the boys, who by that time were not terribly cooperative. While we were waiting, a group came up and asked if we had seen the bear, which we had not, but then watched out for. A couple came up and Judy offered to take their picture. While doing so, they started talking and it turns out she used to work with Judy’s roommate from Michigan State. How crazy is that? Floyd & Judy always run into people who know people they know. As we were leaving, this couple was hitchhiking back to their B&B, so we stopped and gave them a ride. Too weird.
At our campsite, we had fajitas and s’mores, then sat and watched the bay. A few boats came in and out. There were plenty of gulls and some other unidentified birds. We also watched an otter play around, but he was pretty far away. Sunset, if you could call it that, was pleasant. It was nice to have a calm evening.
Conversation of the Day:
(Cole was getting
a ride from Grandpa Floyd who was walking next to Grandma Judy.)
C (to Grandma): You’re little (pointing down at her)
G: Oh, thank you.
License Plates Noticed: AK, AZ, BC, Netherlands, ID, GA, NV, TX, MT, FL, MB
Animals Noticed (unique to the trip):
Sea otter
High Temperature: 81o (Seward, AK)
Low Temperature: 51o (halfway between Glennallen and Anchorage, AK)
Miles: 347.4
Total Time on the Road: 6:40
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Tot: 0.281s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 13; qc: 62; dbt: 0.087s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Lisa Hardesty
non-member comment
Wow
I think that is all I have to say - "wow". Excellent photos of course. I loved the fox running on the other day too!