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The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1)  I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2)  This trip didn't include much of the normal topics:  good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days.   We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port.  My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music.   Rememberi...

Seward, Alaska



After a couple of rainy, misty, cool, cloudy days in Seward, we asked a coffee shop barista if this was typical Seward summer weather? “Yep,” he replied. “This is kinda Seward’s vibe.”



So we put on our fleece sweaters and rain gear to stay outside and deal with Seward’s vibe. With about 2300 residents, Seward is a small tourist town and expensive. Our room here was the most costly of our stay. While clean, our 8’x 10′ basement room with no closet and a tiny bathroom was not someplace we wanted to spend much time in.

As a result, we did a lot of walking in the rain along the shoreline, port and downtown. Seward is another Alaskan town with prominent murals. Since it marks the start of the Iditarod, much of the public art focuses upon that famous dog race.



In between the port and downtown, there is over a mile of municipal campground with just about every type of rv rig you can imagine from Casitas to expedition vehicles to huge motor homes. Fees ranged from $40 for hookups to $20 for dry camping to $10 for tenting.  There were about a dozen hardy tenters each day we walked by.

Seward had one brewpub: Seward Brewing. We visited a couple of times. The beer was good, especially the imperial stout, which they ran out of on our last night there. Also, there was some interesting metal art and a painted concrete bar.




That last photo wasn’t at the brewpub but I felt compelled to add it in.
We dined at two excellent restaurants: Chinooks and Ray’s, Both had great food, drinks and views.



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