45under45: Seward

We got off the ship in Seward. The weather was rainy and overcast and around 50 degrees. The port area was a real "deep sea" harbor and very industrial.

After boarding our motor coach and enjoying a little electronics time, we were off on our first leg of our land excursion.

At the first stop the kids and my folks went to the Alaska Sea Life Center and Shawn and I walked around the town that consisted of just one small street of a few little (not chain) shops. Luckily I was able to find the wildflower book that I saw at Icy Straight Point (but didn't buy at the time). So, I bought it as soon as I found it in Seward. At the same store, they had small peanut shaped Christmas ornaments made out of reindeer poop. Since my family and I seem slightly obsessed with poo, this was the perfect opportunity for a special souvenir...a purple one for Summer, green for Nicholas, and red for my mom. Adorable!

Speaking of adorable...one shop had a mow-hawked Husky. She was very friendly and I enjoyed her nudging at me, asking for more petting. The shop owner was amazed at how much her dog was lovin' on me. Of course I didn't share with her the fact that I had been wearing the same clothes for days and had just been to a sled dog musher's camp and cuddled future Iditarod winners. I just enjoyed all of the lime light.

As we walked on through the town, we had a good time looking at the local arts and crafts and typical touristy "junk". Then we came to a shop that seemed like an army/navy surplus store but with some nice women's and children's clothes as well. Shawn found a rain jacket that he liked and for under $30.00, he felt like it was a steal. Proudly wearing his new jacket, we walked on to meet the kids and my folks along the shoreline.

While on the shore, I found a fishing lure and a couple of pieces of sea glass. One was a very large blue piece in the shape of a lightning bolt. Although the blue had no patina, the edges were smooth, and so I kept it instead of tossing it back for a little more cooking.

Then, we had an excellent eagle fly over. They are so big and fly in such a unique way, they're getting to be easy to spy! But I never will get used to, "Oh, there's an eagle!" I video taped the experience but it just looks like a giant bird, not as awesome as it really was.

It turns out that Seward is "Mile 0" of the Iditarod. And after having taught second grade and the story of Balto, I should have known that!

Then we went on a five hour boat tour of Kenai Fjords where we saw: Orca, humpback whales, sea lions, otter, eagles, puffin, common muir, Dall porpoise, and more. We stopped on Fox Island for lunch and a quick beach walk. I spent all five hours of our boat ride scouring the coast and grassy terrain for sheep, goats, and bears. But, no luck for me. However, I did get a good look at a lot of cool stuff!

After we were done with our wild life cruise, we went on to check in at the hotel, shower, and get ready for dinner.

Our kids had never seen real hotel keys before!

Shawn had to stay in town to wait for the next tour boat to come in because Summer had accidently left her back pack on Fox Island and they had generously ferried it back to town for us.

After an excellent dinner at the Resurrection Roadhouse we explored around on the river bed in front of our hotel.

This funny little bridge goes over the river. Note how the road had to be "stitched" back together and then soldered on top of that and the ground still shifted and broke apart. The power of water and force of drifting logs must be too much for our man made fixes.

No bears but loads of peanut shaped tan pellets. Reindeer poo!