After a second transition night in our Anchorage hotel we got on the road to Seward. We had some ideas for stops along the way because of the very helpful and talkative bartender at the hotel. We had spent some time talking to him during our first stay where he shared local stories, including ones about bear maulings at parks in town and at scenic stops along the highway to Seward. This made our stops on the journey a little more exciting. We chose not to tell Grammy and the girls about these stories until well after the fact. We were heading to the Kenai Peninsula for our last part of the trip. Unfortunately, forest fires had been in the area for over a week, so the smoky haze you see in this picture would be around depending on how the wind was blowing.
Grammy had reserved a great rental house for our stay in downtown Seward and the girls were able to break out their hammocks for the first time. The house was perfect, the location was ideal, and the girls made themselves at home very quickly.
From the house it was a short walk to the stores and restaurants of the town. As we had done on our previous legs we had already scouted out various places we wanted to eat. Really, though, the we in that sentence is Sarah. Every step of the way she was implementing ideas that she had researched for months.
For night one in Seward a restaurant called The Cookery was on our itinerary. It did not disappoint. When we first got there we were escorted to the back patio to enjoy a drink and an appetizer while we waited for our table.
This was a perfect welcome to Seward. From the back patio we got a glimpse into their open-air kitchen and the smells drew us right in. We also could check out the different entree options as the cooks prepared them for other diners. For an appetizer we ordered some seared scallops. They were so good that Reese knew exactly what she wanted for dinner. This made us very proud and we were more than willing to not pay for a kid's chicken nuggets so she could have a round of scallops to herself.
We all had tasty meals, making sure that we took advantage of the fishing industry of Seward. And we needed to make sure we were well fed because the next several days were going to be packed.
What's better than a 12 hour bus tour? How about an 8 hour boat tour? Seriously, we were very excited to spend our first full day in Seward on the water. Again, this is where Sarah's research paid off. We bought tickets with the same tour company that given President Obama a tour in 2015. Both the President and us made the right choice.
We give you exhibit number one to support our case. When we were heading to Alaska, John said what he really wanted to see was an orca whale. Within the first 30 minutes of our boat tour his wish was granted. We saw a pod of 7! This is a residential pod, which means that they Resurrection Bay home. We also saw a smaller transient pod of three and they were definitely hunting. It was incredible.
At all times we were looking for our next animal sighting. The inside of the boat's cabin was roomy and warm, but you needed to be on the deck to really take in the whole environment. And in contrast to our boat trip in Juneau, on this trip we were constantly on the deck because of another animal spotting.
This boat trip was taking us in and out of the waters that make up Kenai Fjords National Park, and a distinct element of the park are the glaciers. So our boat tour took us by and to a number of glaciers. The biggest one we saw was the Aialik Glacier. As we approached the glacier, the boat went slower because of all of the ice chunks in the water. And the closer we got to those ice chunks we realized that there were seals on top of them. Who would have thought we would see something like this. Jaw-dropping.
It is a cliche that a picture doesn't do it justice. But we do want to provide a sense of scale in terms of just how big this glacier is. If you look closely at this photo you can see what is a large tour boat. And yet that large tour boat looks like a toy boat at the base of this icy behemoth.
As our tour boat got the opportunity to get a little closer we were able to feel the magnitude of the size and experience a calving, which is where a portion of the glacier breaks off and falls into the water. It sounds like thunder and you feel it in our bones. All the seals hanging around the base of the glacier appear unimpressed, but we couldn't believe that we were able to experience such a sight.
We come to yet another point of our travels where we couldn't stop taking pictures so we could make sure that people knew that we were truly there at this spot. And of course this is another picture we can use to show the girls what cool parents they have who expose them to the wonders of the world.
Here's a little girl power shot. Three generations of strong women in one photo. What you may not be able to tell is how cold all four of them were. The drop in temperature just approaching the glacier was something to behold. You were torn between wanting to stay on the deck to take it all in and wanting to keep from freezing.
And every now and then the two of us get to make an appearance. After all the pictures were taken we had another great packed lunch and talked about what we had seen. The only question was what else could we see before the trip was over.
While we admired the glacier some of the crew were busy picking up pieces of glacier ice to make special drinks for everyone on board. The adults could get glacier ice margaritas and the kids could get a non-alcoholic beverage. We're not sure if it was the ice or the length of time we were on the boat tour, but these two got a little loopy after consuming their respective drinks.
What else would we see? How about a breaching humpback whale? We saw quite a few whales on the journey, but at this point we saw a mother and calf playing. They were both breaching, slapping their fins, and just putting on a show.
The tour was not just about the animals, of course, and our boat captain took us to and through a number of different spots along the way that were just gorgeous. At this spot the boat cruised slowly through these rock spires off the coast.
The beauty of the trip overall was almost too much to keep up with, especially because it was different types of beauty. We knew we would see glacier but we didn't expect to see coastlines and rock formations like this. Again, our guided tour seemed to exceed expectations on so many levels.
All good things must come to an end, and we got in one last group photo before the boat pulled into the harbor. We would have gone on the same tour the next day but we did have other things planned. But believe us we thought about it.
We knew we wanted to go on a hike one day, and the crew on the boat gave us a recommendation for a great one on the outskirts of town. The hike would take us through the woods and to a secluded shoreline. Because of the ongoing warm weather Reese decided she would be prepared for the possibility of a polar dip of sorts. Good thinking on her part, because she was able to make it happen.
We kept our string alive of not eating at a picnic table as we soaked in the views over some turkey sandwiches. As you can see, Reese insisted on staying in her bathing suit and after lunch even buried herself in the sand.
We did a lot of hiking throughout our trip, in addition to everything else, and Grammy Gayle kept pace every step of the way. This is a pretty remarkable feat for a woman who just a year earlier had gone through two surgeries to remove parts of both lungs following a lung cancer diagnosis. She is a strong woman with a survivor attitude.
Although it is no longer the case, this spot in Seward was once mile zero for the Iditarod dog sled race. This is right in downtown Seward, next to the Salmon Sisters store and the Alaska Sealife Center. We visited both of those businesses during our trip and can recommend them for very different reasons.
With our trip to Kenai Fjords we have now visited nine national parks as a family. Grammy Gayle gave us a gift to kick off the trip with national park checklist t-shirts. We couldn't think of a better way to highlight the ninth park by wearing our shirts for the occasion.
John had first learned about Mt. Marathon from a postcard his sister Suzy sent years ago when she visited Seward. The mountain juts up right at the edge of Seward and there is a well known race that takes place every July. The trail head was just a couple of blocks from our rental house, so one afternoon the two of us decided to take the hike to the top. We got close, but not to the peak. The more exciting part of the hike came on the return portion, when Sarah and John took divergent paths. They thought the paths would come back together - they were wrong. This meant that for about 40 minutes John was pretty sure he was going to have to tell the girls that he had lost their mother while Sarah was reasonably confident she would make it down the mountain but just wasn't sure where she would actually emerge. Luckily, we met up right where we had entered. And neither one of us saw a bear.
The next day we had to make the trip back to Anchorage for one more night at the hotel before our flights back to the continental US. However, we had one more stop to make. Right outside of the town of Girdwood is the Winner Creek trail that you can take a hand tram over Glacier Creek that will then allow you to hike on to the Alyeska Ski Resort. We had actually tried to do this on the trip to Seward, but had the bad luck of arriving right when some first responder teams were practicing rescue missions at the hand tram.
John and Reese went over first and then Sarah and Callie made the trip. Grammy Gayle was back at the resort awaiting our arrival. It was a very cool experience. Unfortunately Reese was going to remember the hand tram longer than most of us because she got a rope burn on her hand, but at least none of us fell out of the basket and needed that rescue team.
The remainder of the hike was pretty easy because it was all down hill. As we wrap up our last Alaska post we do need to make an important note about something not appearing in our pictures. During the two weeks of our trip the US Women's National Soccer Team was making history on their way to another World Cup championship. Despite all we had planned we made a point of finding places to watch their games. This meant getting a Hulu subscription for the first game, scrambling to find a sports bar in Juneau, and coordinating our departure time from Seward to combine the epic game against France with a tasty breakfast in Girdwood. Even a trip like this one was not going to interfere with our support for the USWNT. So after an incredible two weeks we headed home to take on the rest of the summer.
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