Anchorage and Kenai Fjords National Park

Hello from the roads of Alaska. This part of the trip the roads have been so much better and the scenery continues to just be amazing. It was over 4 hours to get to Anchorage from Denali but the views made it go by pretty quickly. 

Our time in Anchorage was mainly to get shopping done (our campground was right across from a Costco!), laundry and more cleaning (yes, I am still finding places with dirt!) but we did at least take a city tour to get the lay of the land.

One place that Dave had on his bucket list was to go to the Ulu factory (above). What's an Ulu you ask? It is a knife that comes from the Eskimo culture and was their main cutting tool. They had one at the factory that archaeologists estimate to be over 3000 years old. Our tour guide told us that Anchorage is the hanging basket capitol of the world and even the Ulu factory had several beautiful baskets.  We also went to the Alaska Sausage & Seafood company and Alaskan Wild Berry products.  Both stores were filled with Alaskan made items, including this polar bear!😅

My favorite was the world's largest chocolate waterfall! They offered free samples of all of their delicious chocolates. I definitely got my money's worth! 😋

We went to a fur exchange and they had everything from Woolly Mammoth tusks to beaver gloves. No free samples there but lots of amazing Alaskan made products.

We drove by one of the airports that had hundreds of planes parked. Since there are very few roads in Alaska planes are a much more common mode of transportation. One out of every 60 Alaskans are pilots! 

We went to Earthquake park which was a part of town that was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1964. An entire subdivision of houses was just wiped away in the tsunami that followed the 9.2 magnitude quake. The whole area is now a park to memorialize the over 130 deaths. 

We ended up leaving Anchorage a day early. We did it so we could arrive in Seward earlier and be able to take our boat tour through the Kenai Fjords on a sunny day vs. a day with 99% chance of rain and a high of 59 degrees.  Also, driving through Turnagain Arm with sun on the water was just gorgeous! There were kite surfers out on the water when we passed by (pic on the right); it was so cool to watch them!

The views driving this part of the trip have been nothing short of spectacular! I am sure even if it was raining it would be lovely but we sure enjoyed the beautiful blue skies and those white puffy clouds instead. I loved this shot of the end of Turanagain arm where the tide was out (below). Something so soothing about the clouds and the patterns in the sand. 

It was such a fabulous day for a drive with beautiful scenery everywhere you looked. We arrived in Seward at Resurrection Bay Campground with this amazing view right out of our window (below)!

The only sad thing was the remains of the docks that used to be here before the tsunami from the '64 earthquake took them out. The city deemed the area unfit for building since the same thing could happen again. Funny how it is safe enough for the tourists? 😏 That sign is literally right next to Phoebe! 

Hello Sunshine! Our reason for being in Seward was to take the boat trip out to Kenai Fjords National Park. Our most expensive excursion so far but we can say we've been in the Fjords now! I am just thankful that this 6 hour boat tour I kept all my stomach contents inside! It was a beautiful day in the mid sixties and most important it was sunny so we could see those whales!

They blew their air out their holes to say "hello" and waved their tales at us. It was such a cool site! 

We saw lots of harbor seals and another tour boat just like ours watching them from the other side.

 

The captain who has been living in Seward and piloting these boats for 25 years got us into all kinds of cool spots. This little cove was a hideaway for the seals, Check them out in the back of the cove on the rocks. Dave got this great shot below of one of them striking a pose.

 

We cruised into Aialik Bay also known as Dora passage and saw the popular photographed islands there.  We figured we should get a shot too! 

 

Next on to the glaciers, with Addison glacier to your left and Aialik glacier below.

While we didn't see any calving while we were watching there was evidence of it. The crew went ice fishing so we could get up and close with it.

 

 

The crew were terrific and made sure everyone got some good pictures to take home. This was quintessential Alaska with a sunny day to top it off!

 

The ride back we saw more Orcas (right) and some puffins but our pictures just don't do them justice (they just look like black and white dots in the water). It was still neat to see them. The captain picked up some speed on the way back and then it got really windy and chilly too!

He got us back safely to the dock and our cruise on the Voyager was complete!  Given the hoops we had to jump through to make it happen (leaving Anchorage a day early, moving campsites 3 times, twice in 1 day), it was all worth it! Of our days in Seward it was by far the best! 

The next day the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and the rain and clouds poured in. It was a good day to stay inside and get caught up on the blog! 😌

If it looks like the campground above goes downhill you would be right. I am not sure we have ever had Phoebe so jacked up in the air. That first step is about at Dave's knees! He was willing to go out in the rain for food though and wow, what an awesome meal we had. Ray's Waterfront dining gets 5 stars! 

Our last day here (today! whoot, whoot I am finally caught up!)😲 we did things in reverse and went to the Visitor's Center. We watched the movie and talked to the Ranger for some hiking suggestions. Also, couldn't miss the photo opp with the seals and new hat for Dave.

On our way walking into town (there is a great path all the way from the campground into town) there was a Viking ship in port. Makes me miss cruising but they only got 6 hours here where we have had 4 days!

Ah yes, the park sign picture, our 50th now in the last 4 years! We have been so fortunate to get to live this lifestyle and see our incredibly beautiful country!

We hiked to Exit Glacier and noted the signs along the way depicting where the glacier was at during that time. We laughed and said if we had only come 20 years earlier we wouldn't of had to hike so far!😁

Some would say not such a laughing matter as they are unsure how the recession of these many glaciers will impact the environment. For sure the waters give life to many animals here in the park.

 

For now, we sit and appreciate what we see today and enjoy a little snack too. 😃 It certainly is another beautiful park.

We'll leave you with a view from the campground as we head out tomorrow to Homer as our Epic journey continues. Thank you for your prayers along the way!