Seward, Alaska: Boat Trip

On our last day in Seward and the day before we flew home, there was one more item on Julia’s “to-do” list that needed checking off.  Before we left Alaska, it was important to go out on a boat and see the glaciers and sea life.

Now, while Julia grew up in a fishing family and around boats, I barely know how to swim and have already been seasick several times when out on the Pacific or Gulf Coast.  I am not a boat/water person. Then there was the matter of cost.  An all-day ride was over $200/person.  Marriage is about compromise, however, and we were on our 30th anniversary celebration trip, so we were going on a boat ride.

Partly because of low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by our boat experience.  We left on a gray, drizzly morning.  Staff warned us to take medication if we were at all susceptible to seasickness, because seven-foot waves were expected in the Gulf of Alaska, which we would be crossing.  The boat seemed big enough that I wasn’t too worried.  During previous bouts of being seasick, I was either on a smaller boat and/or had possibly too much fun on the night before going out to sea.

There were a handful of people on our boat who were unpleasantly surprised.  I would guess about a half-dozen passengers spent most of the trip hanging over the back railing and filling up paper bags, as the boat rolled up and down through the waves. One elderly woman spent the entire trip throwing up or laying down in a dead-like position. She paid big bucks to be absolutely miserable for six hours.

We started the trip sitting at the rear of the boat, but as people succumbed to the rolling motion, we quickly moved to either the top or front deck, depending on the best vantage points.  We had assigned seating inside the cabin, and we spent some time talking with  our table-mates.  It was harder to see inside though, and the fresh outside air helped me from joining the sick folks on the back railing, so we spent most of the trip outside.

Within the first hour, we saw a pod of killer whales (orcas).

We drifted with the pod for about 30 minutes and watched these magnificent creatures surfacing  and blowing.  It was an unexpected sighting, staff told us, because these killer whales were passing through on a late migration.  While this wildlife sighting was our most memorable, we also saw sea lions, seals, dolphins, rare birds and mountain goats.  Due to the limitations of my phone camera, I cannot share most of these sightings with you, but I have a small sample.  If you click and enlarge, you can see the sea lions in the lower portion of first photo and mountain goats at the top of the second photo.

If someone asked me what my favorite part of Alaska was, it would be the glaciers.  The views from the boat were amazing, and we spent about an hour by the glacier.

As I watched the glacier calve (the breaking away of icebergs into the water), it occurred to me that future generations may not be able to see glaciers.  It’s natural for glaciers to retreat/melt in the summer and build back up in the winter. It’s natural for ice ages to come and go. However, the rapid retreat of glaciers today is not normal.  No matter what your politics, it would be a rare person to view a glacier, see photographic evidence of how fast they are disappearing, and not wonder what the world will be like for future generations.

I don’t have any answers.  Even if human beings are totally responsible for today’s climate changes, it seems unlikely to me there’s enough political will to have a snowball chances in hell to reverse those changes, even if we could.  One thing is for sure: nature is one powerful force to reckon with.

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.

Viewing Denali

Mount Denali is the tallest mountain in North America and has the largest vertical rise in the world. We did not hike the mountain. But we did join the 30 Percent Club: visitors who actually get to see the mountain as it is usually covered in clouds.

This was one our first views. We were excited to see the peak because we talked to visitors from the week before who saw nothing but rain and clouds.

We didn’t know that our first glimpse was just a tease of what was to come. The weather on the mountain changes constantly but rarely provides a full view.

 
We felt so fortunate to take in Denali’s immense beauty. Expeditions to climb the mountain take 3 weeks. Unfortunately, we only had two weeks. Actually, climbing season is over for the year, and I lack both the money and the skills to climb it. But it was fun to imagine doing so.

Northbound Train

After a couple of days to relax by ourselves, we rejoined two other couples from our group and boarded the Alaska Railroad for Talkeetna.  Train travel is one of our favorite modes.

Good views, good food and drink, and room to stretch and walk around, what isn’t to like, especially compared to air travel? Our favorite viewing spot on the train is at the back of the caboose where a person can stand outside the car and breathe fresh air, while taking in the expansive views of Alaska’s terrain.

We didn’t see much wildlife, but we saw a lot of mountains, lakes, and rivers. We also saw sled dogs.

We stayed at a lodge outside if Talkeetna where we enjoyed almost unobstructed views of Mount Denali. Only 30 percent of visitors get to see Denali which is usually behind the clouds. We stayed up late for the sunset which finished up at about 11:30 pm

Anchorage, Day One

On Wednesday, we drove to Milwaukee and treated ourselves to an urban lunch in Walker’s Point at Bavette. We then flew on Alaskan Airlines to Seattle and then to Anchorage, arriving at our hotel at 2 a.m. There was still a bit of light in the sky.

The sun seemed to be coming up around 4ish a.m., which didn’t give us much sleep heading into the day. We started with coffee at Kaladi Brothers and then hiked over to the Coastal Trail which we accessed at Elderberry Park.

After a late breakfast/lunch, we arranged for a hikers’ shuttle to take us about 40 minutes away to the base of Flattop Mountain. This was a good call. The shuttle for both of us was cheaper than renting a car, and the van driver had good hiking tips for the trail and pointed out local points of interest on the route. He must have told us five times that everyone needed to be back at the van by 4 p.m. (more on that later).

Flattop Mountain  is a relatively short hike but with 1300 feet in vertical gain. Julia was a trooper, but for someone with bad knees, the hike down is especially tough.  The first third passes quickly up through low pines and alpine moss. The second third climbs more steeply up many railroad ties/steps. The final third is an even steeper rock and gravel scramble requiring the use of hands and feet. We made it up and down in about 150 minutes, including 30 minutes of walking around at the summit.

Two of our group had not returned to the van at 4:10 p.m.,and the van driver left without them. Several of us had observed the two still climbing when the rest of us were well on the way down. They knew they were running late but chose not to turn around. The driver suggested calling a cab and did not offer a refund.

I highly recommend this hike to other hikers in reasonably good shape and would also recommend using the shuttle services from the Downtown Bicycle Rental on Fourth Street ($22). It’s a great hike with just enough challenges to make it interesting. Just don’t be late.

 

View from the top of Flattop Mountain

Two other hikers on the summit

Still some snow in pockets

That little black dot is a moose

A great day

That night we went to a reception at a private home overlooking Cook Inlet. Not really my kind of gig.  After a couple of glasses of red wine, I stood on the deck and could see Mt Denali and the Alaskan Range. I’m warming up to Alaska.