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Alaska

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25
May 14

From Seward to Homer, Alaska

On our way out of Seward we stopped by the Exit Glacier. This required a walk up a paved path and hiking up a few rocky passages. Black and brown bears are frequently seen in the area, but not by us.

There go Ren, Jessica and Adam now:

One of our views along the way to the glacier:

Our second glacier in two days. Ho-hum.

Did you see that carve out? Ren has a great shot from there that will figure into our Christmas card plans.

The glacier was, get this, cold. I chipped away a few handfuls of clean ice. It tasted like 100,000 year-old water.

Here’s a view from the receding glacier, looking back across the valley. She’s posing:

After the glacier, we backtracked up the peninsula and then turned toward Homer. We stayed on the spit itself, a little strip of land surrounded by water that could be swallowed up by an imaginative breeze. Our rooms are at the very edge of the land, having nicked a part of the town and then driven through this funky little stretch of tourists, hippies and campers. Homer was originally a coal town. Now you can put a tent up on the beach, or stagger around buying local crafts as you wander away from your RV.

We were hungry, and stumbled around looking for food at the wrong time of day in a village where no one wants to make money after 8 p.m. So we had a midday snack of fish and chips. We enjoyed the view, and tried to figure out why this guy carried two pairs of shoes down to the shoreline for no reason.

We were sitting in this little restaurant plotting our next move when we noticed a bald eagle flying by:

And then she came back. And again and again. We realized she was on a hunting pattern, pulling fish from the sea for her eaglets tucked away in a nearby cellphone tower. We stayed and took pictures.

Now, I know a bald eagle personally, but it isn’t every day that I get to see one fly in the wild, so I’m sharing almost every decent shot I have. After another lap or two I resolved to get in the flight path. There is one in here where the eagle is looking right at me.

No doubt she’s thinking “If I were big enough, I’d eat you.”

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24
May 14

Seward, Alaska wildlife cruise

Seward is a town of about 3,000 people. It was once a vital shipping town, as the port sent a variety of goods into interior Alaska. A massive earthquake and subsequent fires and a tsunami in 1964 all but wiped the place out. As we were told today, the industry has never completely recovered. Now, alongside fisheries, tourism is one of the big industries. You’re about to see why in the photographs and video below.

We got right up to the seagulls, thousands of whom lived in this one rock protruding from the bay. Later in the season, we learned, bigger waves will come through and clean the rock. This is probably important, but tourists wonder why they’re learning about it.

And now, three shots of harbor seals:

These next six will need no introduction. Our cruise captain says he’s been doing this for 15 years. Even he was oohing and aahing about some of the things we saw today, including two separate pods swimming right to us.

Mountains over the water are also impressive, just so you know:

We saw a glacier.

Up close.

We got right next to it. The cracking ice sounded like a rifle’s report. And, from far away, you could hear the glacier-quake, a rumbling thunder, heavy industry sound.

And the Aialik Glacier is the subject of today’s video. Watch until the end:

You want to see the orcas again? Fine. We went back for another quick visit to watch them eat and play.

Another mountain shot.

Our captain steered us — hey, what’s that?

That is a humpback whale.

I said a humpback whale.

We only got to see him for a few minutes because some people on our cruise had to catch a train. Some people have misplaced priorities. Here are a few more mountain shots as we cruised back into port at Seward:

We got off the boat, looked up into the sky and saw this:

The sun stays up — or, rather, it doesn’t get dark — here until midnight or later this time of year. But at dinnertime, that’s what you see.

We stopped by one of the few promising restaurants we could find in the mid-century, blue collar downtown. I had a pork sandwich at the Seward Brewing Company. Walked away with a recipe, too.

We got back to our lodge and walked across the street to the mountain stream. Jessica, Adam, Lauren and I tossed stones into it for an hour or so. It seemed like it would be twilight for forever.

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23
May 14

Seward, Alaska — Day One

Adam and Jessica drove us down the peninsula from Anchorage to Seward today. There are a ton of pictures here — because I remain enamored with the snow-capped mountains — so keep scrolling. Forty-five shots in all, broken into sections. Enjoy. There are mountains, birds, fish and more.

Here are some shots from inside the car.

This next section features shots from the Seward SeaLife Center.

Watching the fish, one woman said to her daughter “It is hard to imagine nature could make something as beautiful as that.”

You understand her point, but wish she had the opportunity to get outside just a bit more.

Like the birds? Here is a video:

A few shots from around Seward:

If you walk outside of our hotel room, stand in the middle of the road and turn to your right, you see this:

This one is directly across from our front door:

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22
May 14

Around Eagle River

Most of the pictures today, I confess, are of the mountains. Because the mountains have deep, rich colors standing in contrast to the remnants of what was apparently a mild winter. I like mountain pictures. And since I grew up at the edge of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains (which don’t look like these) and live on the coastal plain, you’re going to get more than your share of them on this trip, I suspect.

But, first, a plane. As far as I know this is the first time I’ve seen a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. It is 174 feet long with a wingspan of about 170 feet and is powered by four Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines each capable of 40,400 pound force of thrust. Hauling cargo is the Globemaster’s purpose in life. It can support a 69-ton M1 Abrams main battle tank, other armored vehicles, trucks, and trailers and palletized cargo. The cargo compartment is 88 feet long by 18 feet wide and can carry 170,900 pounds. It can also airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment. This one has an un-refueled range of about 2,800 nautical miles and can cruise at Mach 0.74.

I also saw my first F-22 in person today, but I didn’t get a picture.

And, now, a series of photos featuring some of the mountains of the Eagle River Valley.

The Yankee, Jessica and I enjoyed the Eagle River Nature Center, where we saw most of this scenery today:

This is our roommate, Zach. He likes to cuddle:

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21
May 14

Travel day

We had breakfast with my father-in-law this morning. He took us to the airport in mid-morning. We sat in the airport holding pen for far too long, which meant enjoying the ever-challenging CNN dayparts. Why airports feel the need to turn it on CNN and break off the knobs we may never understand.

We they must almost always be turned to the highest possible volume first just seems like a crime against humanity.

Anyway, we flew to Salt Lake City, where we had our first experience in one of the secured “travelers clubs.” You pay a bit more and you get snacks, quieter rooms, better chairs and less crowds.

Worth every penny.

It turns out that my step-father was in Salt Lake City at the same time. He was over in one terminal waiting on his turnaround and we were waiting elsewhere for ours. We did not have time to meet, but it was kind of funny.

I got War Eagled on the plane to Salt Lake and then again inside that special club room. There’s just no end to the family reunions.

Here are some photos from the rest of the trip. We headed northwest, over the corner of Canada and landed, finally, in Anchorage.

On the one hand we traveled something like 16 hours on the day, after you figured in the time zones. On the other, we went across the entire country. Aeronautics are amazing, despite the cattle-car-in-the-sky mentality.

When we arrived it was about 11 p.m. local time. And it was still daylight. Our friends Adam and Jessica picked us up and took us to their place, and we enjoyed the mountains in twilight all the way there. Tomorrow we’ll start seeing the sights.