Welcome friends and family! The middle chunk of our Alaska trip was based in Anchorage with a trip to Seward. Don't forget, most of the photos can be expanded by clicking on them. Enjoy, Sharon & Dan |
To Seward (July 1)
On July 1st, we picked up our rental car and drove south from Anchorage to Seward. |
In Seward, we went to the Alaska Sealife Center, which lived up to the recommendations we had heard. |
Kenai Fjords (July 2)
We took a one day boat tour of the Kenai Fjords and saw so much wildlife. The staff on the boat might have been exaggerating for our benefit, but they claimed they very rarely see so much wildlife on their cruises. We thought they were playing it up for us, but in fact the captain had to apologize a few different times as she steered us away from some interesting scenes because we had to get moving to stay on schedule. |
We saw a pod of five transient orcas, which are not supposed to be as social as resident orcas. This particular male breached five times while we watched. |
Seward Eagles (July 3)
On the morning of the 3rd as we prepared to leave our hotel, we made sure to go check out the creek behind the cabins. We were supposed to enjoy its sounds by sitting in the hot tub the previous evening, but we didn't get around to it. When we got there, we found an eagle sitting in a tree about 25 yards downstream from us. Suddenly two other eagles flew by and pearched upstream about 15 yards away, but much higher up in their tree. |
Glaciers (July 3)
On the way back from Seward, we stopped at Exit Glacier. Exit Glacier is so named because it's where the first expedition to cross the Harding Ice Field in 1968 exited the ice field. |
We liked this bear warning. Very practical, but the eating part had us thinking "yeah, duh." |
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This was as close as we could get. |
After Exit Glacier, we went to Portage and Byron Glaciers. You used to be able to hike to Portage Glacier, but it has now receded so far that it's not possible to reach it. Byron Glacier was accessible by a shorter hike. Dave and Roger took a break while we went off with Mary Lou to see Byron Glacier. |
Anchorage (July 4)
We enjoyed independence Day in Alaska. There was a good parade and a nice set of presentations. |
This guy would have fit in well with the Stanford Band. |
We wish this was our car. |
Reindeer! |
This crow was trained to take donations and place them in the jar. It was cool and the donations went to a good cause. This group rescues and rehabilitates animals. |
This eagle was rescued from the Exxon Valdez spill. |
They wanted to release it to the wild, but said they had to keep it because it had too much trouble flying. |
Eagle River (July 5)
On the 5th, we took advantage of still having the rental car, and drove out to Eagle River Nature Center in Chugach State Park. We saw a lovely river nestled between mountains, and we saw a lot of firearms. At the visitor center and on the hike, we probably saw fewer than 20 people all day, but they all seemed to be carrying weapons. |