Today we ventured to Seward by way of the Alaska Rail Road. To say the train ride was beautiful does not justly describe it. It was amazing to see the snow covered mountains, glaciers, wildlife, waterfalls, etc. When we arrived in Seward, we headed to the docks and boarded the Star of the Northwest for a boat tour of Resurrection Bay. Sewared reminds me a lot of Edgartown on Marthas Vineyard (minus the mountains of course!). The quait little towns where everyone makes you feel like you are at home.
While on the boat we got the girls binocculars to see the sights a little better. H.was so funny, because I do not really know what she saw out of them but she looked like a little explorer.
Heading out of the Seward docks we saw a Bald Eagle flying over head and he swooped down to catch a fish right in front of the boat (this part I missed, but everyone else saw it!!). We Cormorants. There were remnants of Copper mines in the side of the mountains, they were in use until the earthquake of 1964 when the land sunk 10 feet. Also in the side of the mountain is an old post from WWII when the area housed a fort, it was thought that Seward may be on the attack list because it was the big port at the time.
Just before arriving at the Gulf of Alaska we came upon some rocks covered in Stellar Sea Lions. They were just lounging on some cliffs and shorelines in the beautiful sun of the day. You could hear them growl and bellow from the boat. After rounding Barwell Island we saw the most amazing thing - the blow of a Humpback Whale. There is was, about 100 yards from the boat! The kids were going crazy, as well as the adults. We trolled for about 15 minutes to watch them swim by, showing off their tail flukes. When H. spotted a "blow" she was so excited - I told her she found him first!!
After that, we headed to Bear Glacier, again words cannot describe the sight. On this part of the trip is where we got to see the next amazing thing - a pod of 6 Orca Whales. Watching the dorsal fins break the water followed by the tail is just amazing. I will never look at Shamu the same way again!! In the Kenai Fjords there are 2 types of Orca pods, local and transient. Obviously we will never know which pod we saw, but I just thought that was interesting.
Now we were heading back to Seward, so P. and I were able to take a break and enjoy some dessert. I forgot to mention we were served a prime-rib and salmon dinner on the boat. We enjoyed some coffee and cheesecake and prepared for a relaxing ride back. When we arrived at the dock, we boarded the bus to the train and just made the last call.
The train ride home was nice, at one point we had to slow down because there was a moose running down the middle of the track! We got a chance to have dinner in the dining car and play some cards to pass the time. To remember her train ride H. chose to get each of her brothers a train whistle and she got a wooden train.
Needless to say we were very tired when we reached the house around 10:30 pm - our day started at 4:00 am. H. fell asleep in the car on the way home and all I had to do was carry her in and get her in her jammies.
Tomorrow we hunt for moose antlers.....
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