INTRODUCTION TO SEWARD

INTRODUCTION TO SEWARD

The Murleys and Ritchie departed Anchorage shortly before noon on Thursday, the 19th, leaving the Ehlenbergs behind to mend their coach!  Hated to leave them, and hope they are back on the road to join us ASAP!

We enjoyed a lovely, scenic drive from Anchorage to Seward and found a city park campground right on Resurrection Bay just a short ways from the huge marina and just around the corner from the historic downtown.  The city "owns" the entire waterfront all around the point on which Seward is located and it is all campground with some dry camping and other sites with water and electric (including 50 amp service, which is a plus and pleasant surprise!).  All the sites immediately on the water were occupied, but we found 2 up on the second level which still gives us a great view of the bay and all the boat traffic which goes by.

We parked, set up, had our cocktail hour (Teddy insisted on being a part of it--he is definitely "Cocktail Dog"!), and then headed out for a fresh seafood dinner.  We chose Chinook's down at the marina for our first fresh-caught meal and we were rewarded with outstanding views across the marina to the mountains to the East.  There were a few moisture laden clouds around the tip-tops of the mountains, and the light mist coming down from them gave us a Seward "welcome" gift:  a rainbow!

We watched as it grew and grew--what a lovely memory of our first dinner in Seward!
And as we sat looking out the second story of the restaurant, we watched a couple of the charter fishing boats pull into the marina.  One was right below us, and man-oh-man, the mate was pulling fish after fish from the holding tank under the cabin--red salmon and halibut by the tens!  I don't know how many fish they had, but it took him a good while to unload the tank and then transfer the fish to special wheelbarrows to be carted up to the cleaning/fileting station!
After our dinner, we walked out on the fishing dock and there was a group getting their picture taken with their catch of halibut hooked up on the dock.  We talked to several people about fishing and stopped in at the charter office to ask for more information and pricing.  If the Ehlenbergs make it down to Seward on Friday, we may sign up for a fishing trip for Saturday or Sunday.
Once back to our campground, we sat and watched the sun shine on the mountains to the east in the late afternoon.  Here are some pictures of our views from the campground:

Looking east from our campsite across Resurrection Bay

Looking south down the bay towards the Gulf of Alaska

Another view looking southeast across Resurrection Bay from the shoreline in front of the campground.

You can see a small glacier in the upper left of this picture

A view of the marina from our campground

Our coaches and the mountains to the west

Sun going down on Resurrection Bay

This picture was taken at nearly 11:00 pm!

We are awaiting news tomorrow about the progress on fixing Jack and Betty's coach.  Hopefully, the part will arrive as scheduled at 10:00 am and they will be able to rejoin us on Friday afternoon.

ADDENDUM ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON

HOORAH!  The service on the Ehlenberg's coach was finished this morning and they have moved into the campground right beside our other two coaches.  Luckily, the Class C next to Rich moved out this morning and we were able to "reserve" it for Jack and Betty.  We are going to have a cocktail celebration in a few minutes to welcome them back to the Alaska Odyssey!!