Lots of pretty views across Cook Inlet towards the Katmai Peninsula, where there are several snow covered volcanic peaks ... all of them still active. Not sure but I think this one is Mt. Redoubt which last erupted in 2009, apparently affecting air traffic in the region for a few weeks as the ash settled. Saw at least 2 others a bit north and south of this one - all appeared to be dormant at the moment.
Stopped in the little town of Kenai for lunch, and then walked around their "Old Town", ie the site of an old fort and another Russian Orthodox Church. This one had a small chapel adjacent to it - apparently built over the graves of two Russian Orthodox saints. There was a cliff trail down to the beach nearby so we hiked down and walked a bit to burn some calories before pressing on to Seward.
It was a pretty little place to walk around on a sunny day
It was still sunny when we arrived in Seward and, hearing that the forecast for the next couple of days was rainy, we dumped the luggage and hustled out the door to see some of the sights before the return of the wet weather. First stop was Exit Glacier just down the road from us. It's one of the few places in the state (or the world I guess) where you can walk right up to the edge of the ice. The road in paralleled Resurrection Creek and wound its way for about 8 miles thru some very pretty forest before ending at the National Park Visitor Center. From there it was a one mile gentle walk along a wooded path to the glacier itself. The photo below doesn't really do it justice, but the sun was directly above the ice by the time we got there the first day and washed out any hope of a sunny shot. The photo is actually from day 2...not as pretty but still a good look at the glacier coming down out of the massive ice field above.
The only other place we've ever seen a glacier this accessible was in New Zealand - at the Franz Joseph Glacier on the South Island. That one is even more accessible than this one - literally right next to the main highway along the west coast.
The park service posted a number of signs marking where the foot of the glacier had previously been - in intervals going back to the year 1815...really demonstrated just how much it's retreated in the past 200 years, and the markers for the years 1985-2009 show how things have been accelerating.
Exit Glacier from a nearby viewpoint
And a couple of tourists
As forecast the weather turned sour the next two days. We still managed to get out and about but any hopes of getting in a hike had to be abandoned. Seward was another pretty little town - reminded us a lot of Skagway the way it was laid out. An Indian village on the site had been long abandoned by the time the gold rushers arrived in the area around 1895 to cache their supplies before making the overland trek to the gold fields of the interior. The town wasn't formally established until 1903 when Alaska Railroad officials arrived and started laying track north towards Anchorage. Guess the big attraction was that Seward has one of the few ice free ports this far north in Alaska, so establishing a rail head here was something of a no-brainer.
Downtown Seward looking South towards Resurrection Bay. The bay got its name from our old buddy Alexander Baranov who, around 1795 or thereabouts, was surveying this coastline on his way from Kodiak towards Sitka when his ship sought refuge from a storm in this bay. The date was the feast of the Resurrection (Easter) according to the Orthodox calendar, so the bay was named in honor of the date.
Seward has a very nice Sealife Center down at the foot of the harbor, and we stopped by one day for a couple of hours to get out of the rain. Turned out to be pretty nice. Lots of viewing tanks highlighting all of the various Alaska marine critters... fish, birds and mammals, including some very good exhibits on King Crabs and all of the various types of Salmon.
This is a Puffin - saw a lot of them during our cruise thru the Marine Sanctuary near Homer on the way to Seldovia last week but couldn't get a decent close-up picture. This little guy volunteered to remedy the deficit.
Walking along the seawall next to the bay. It really was a pretty town, but unfortunately couldn't show itself to very good advantage because of the wet weather.
Left Seward earlier today and drove back up to Anchorage where we're spending the night. Will be dropping the car off tomorrow morning at the Port and then catching a taxi over to the airport for the short flight to Kodiak, where we'll be staying for 6 nights as the car makes its way by ship to Tacoma. Believe it or not, it was actually a LOT cheaper to ship the car both ways than it would have been to rent one while we were here.
Hoping that our luck changes with the weather in Kodiak - would really like to book a flight around the island while we're there, both to see the bears and to just enjoy some of the prettiest scenery in Alaska.
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