SEWARD, DAY 2

CARAVAN BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!

Hurray!  The needed part to fix the Ehlenberg's coach arrived from Memphis as scheduled--overnight to Anchorage!  Delivered to the Cummins dealer--the only one in Alaska!--by 9:30 am, the mechanics were right on it, and by 2:30, Jack and Betty arrived in Seward to rejoin our Alaska Odyssey!  After a chat on Ritchie's patio for a cocktail, we headed off to show Jack and Betty the town and then get to a restaurant appropriately named "Ray's" located in the marina.  Here we are in Seward, at a marina with a large fishing industry, and what does Jack order??  Chicken marsala!  The rest of us had fish!
Anyway, we are glad that we are all back together again!

Morning Tour Around Resurrection Bay

In the morning, Ray, Tam, and Ritchie went exploring to see what is on the other side of the bay from Seward.  We discovered a large dry dock/ship repair facility.  We could see the buildings from our campground and Ray wanted to see what was over there.  The views back across Resurrection Bay are as stunning--if not more so!--than the views from our campground.

View of Seward, the marina, and the mountains from the east side of Resurrection Bay.

Note the large cruise ship in the center of the picture:  The Radiance of the Seas was in port for 24 hours.

This is one reason Seward has a lot of "tourista"-type shops:  lots of people on board one this size!

This one might become one of Ritchie's Key Puzzles!

  The mountain range around Seward is called the Kenai Range, and there are some 40 glaciers scattered throughout the range.  One is very close to Seward and is reachable by a 1/2 mile trail from the Kenai Fjords National Park Exit Glacier visitors center.  We were thinking of making the hike, but according to the Park Ranger at the center, the last several hundred feet up the trail was very steep.  We decided old bones were best served by looking at the glacier from flat ground!

The Exit Glacier coming down from Harding Ice Fields in the Kenai Mountain Range

I am fascinated by the "over wash" that is present in so many of the rivers in Alaska--all debris from the grinding of the glacier along its path down the mountain side!

MOOSE SIGHTING!

We have been looking all along our roadsides as we have traversed the ALCAN Highway and down the highways to Anchorage and Seward for a bull moose.  We finally found one grazing in the marsh on the north end of Resurrection Bay!

He had a fairly impressive rack as he waded in belly high marsh grass feeding on the succulents along the bottom.  Of course, any traffic going along the roadway came up to a clutch of cars, pulled over, and watched and took pictures.  We also saw two swans swimming with their four cygnets--a bit too far away to get a decent photo.  Later at the Exit Glacier visitors center, Tam and I watched a moose cow walk right through the parking lot and the traffic!  A pretty good day for animals!

This morning is very gray and rainy--not the pretty sunshine of the last two days.  Looks like this will be an indoor day! 

More to come, of course!