The first parts are available here, part 1, part 2 & part 3. go read them now if you havent!
Day 8 – Seward
The morning of the 8th day, a friday, found us at port, in seward. our disembarking time was 8:40, and we got off the ship, collected our luggage, and waited for a shuttle from the mornings excursion we had planned to pick us up. we had organized for the whole family to go on a 7 hour kenai peninsula boat tour, including a salmon feast on a local island. so, as soon as we got picked up, got to the docks, we boarded our smaller boat for the day. the idea here was we were going to be able to get much closer to some of the wildlife that lives on the kenai peninsula, which is quite a bit. as soon as we left the harbour, we ran across some more humpback whales. so, we hung out and got to know them a little . got some more great shots of them. then onwards we went. we met a lot of birds, by far my favorites are the puffin. they apparently eat so much fish that they have trouble taking off. then we saw some seals sun bathing too. we went way up this fjord, in order to go see some more glaciers. on the way, we ran into a mother otter, with a baby on her stomach! i wish i had had a longer lens, but i did manage to get a few pictures of her. by far my favorite animals.
then we got up to another glacier. this time noa was our supreme spotter. she would tell us where the ice is calving, and amos and i would be taking the photos. very handy to have her around for such things. it was crazy, as it was a semi warm day out, but the wind blowing down over the glacier would super cool the air, and it would alternate between warm and cold. then they pulled some ice out for us to see, and apparently its the densest ice in the world. that was pretty fun to see. then we saw more humbacks, seals, and an eagle soaring overhead heading back to get some food. lots of fun islands with some pretty massive trees on them too. as for our marine excursions, i think this was one of my most enjoyable. we were out at sea, in the sun the whole day, and around every corner we found some new marine life that was pretty exciting to see. heading back into port, i had set my camera down to relax, and i saw what has turned into probably one of my favorite photos play out. this small sail boat was chasing a pack of seagulls around. just phenomenal.
When we anchored for lunch earlier in the day, I built an inukshuk out of the local rocks, which were all perfect skipping rocks. noa also probably took one of my favorite pictures of me. Anyways, later that night, we finally got into a lodge in seward, pretty much passed out, and had a low key evening.
Lets get this picture party started with more humpbacks!
WOW!~
the scenery is just massive. see the kayakers?
must of been a good catch
the local sea lions
again, just massive rock formations
Puffins
theres a fort on there
really hard to see, or take a picture of, but dall porpises
Mommy sea otter!
more glacier action
loons, i think
i like these pictures
and the ice they took out for us
sweet rock formations
yay, puffins!
more sweet rock formations
an eagle overhead
my favorite picture of me
who built that!
and finally, a boat bugging seagulls
Day 9 – Anchorage
Ahhh, bound for the capital of alaska. Since seward is such a small place, all the rental cars are booked years in advance. so we had to take a bus to get to anchorage in order to rent a car. so the next morning we woke up, piled into a car, and headed for the capital. it was about a 2 hour bus ride, where i started collecting my thoughts and wrote the first post of our trip on my ipad. the bus driver updated us on all the local information we had to be aware of as she drove us to town. Once we arrived in Anchorage, i find it looks pretty much like any other american city. it did feel like a real city, and that your surrounded by people, compared to all the other places we visited up until now. amos and i got the rental car, and we ended up walking around downtown for a few hours. I found the local brewery, of course, and tried their IPA while everyone else did some shopping. Lots of beautiful flowers around, and got a few interesting shots in town. I always find its really hard to define a city by a few pictures, as they usually aren’t very interesting. its something i would be interested in getting to know how to do better, for sure. We did end up having a great dinner at a local sea food place, that sources everything locally, i had some halibut cheek. not sure it was cooke properly, or its subtlety was totally lost on me, i dont know, but i didn’t think it was as amazing as everyone raves about it. but it was fried in something weird, so perhaps i need to try it again.
either way, that evening, we left for the roughly two hour drive back into the kenai peninsula, where we were staying at a lodge along a river. we got there fairly late, around 11:30, and again, promptly passed out.
Well, this is not really anchorage, this is still in seward…
we found a chocolate bar, must try
old structure, loved the roof
wow, never seen these flowers
i think the old theatre
my IPA at glacier brewing
Adi made some friends
so did noa and yael
and thats it! This concludes todays installment of andrews alaska adventure. tomorrow is the last, and probably the most exciting, to me at least. stay tuned!
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