the wandering chick
An Alaska Road Trip
Our final destination for this trip was Homer, on the Kenai Peninsula. But we were excited about doing other locations on the peninsula, too. Such as Seward. My travel partner and I had already been to Seward on a previous trip years ago, and it was one of our favorite locations. Several touring cruises take place out of there into Resurrect Bay, so we wanted to include some of those on this trip.
The photos on this page include a wildlife tour into Resurrect Bay and a Glacier/Whale-watching tour, also into Resurrect Bay. Other photos were taken around town, including Exit Glacier, which is accessible by car. We spent a total of five days in Seward.
Alaska's Kenai Peninsula - Seward
Overlooking Cook Inlet at Baluga Point on the Seward Highway as we enter the peninsula
My Talkeetna friend had told us about The Resurrect Art Coffee House, so we stood in a pretty long line at least on two occasions. That's some good stuff, and the art inside is local.
A trail at Exit Glacier leads to a decent viewpoint of the glacier.
Exit Glacier is popular because it's easily accessible by car and foot. It's located outside Seward, in the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was given its names by mountaineers exiting the Harding Icefield. The glacier offered a natural ramp that made an easy 3,000-foot descent.
Moose don't seem much intimidated by cars. We were very close to this guy on Exit Glacier Road, and he (or she?) paid us no mind. I guess moose figure they're in no danger since they're much bigger than we are in a car.
Mom merganser and her ducklings take a stroll on the Seward Lagoon.
Seward's small-boat harbor
A wildlife excursion took us out into Resurrect Bay and to Fox Island. It was not a good day to be on a boat. It was a rainy, dreary day, and cold. But we went. The water was fairly calm despite the weather. In the picture to the righ is the shoreline of Fox Island where a lunch was prepared for us. Rock formations such as in this picture dotted the waters.
A horned puffin
Kittiwakes guard their nests and babies on Fox Island.
Sea otters "ride the waves" in Resurrect Bay. These cute little guys were seen on another boat cruise we took the next day. The weather was nicer, though sitll cold out on the water. This cruise featured wildlife also, but its main focus was two glaciers: Holgate and Aialik. We saw a pod of humpbacks that was incredible.
Sea otters have the thickest fur of any water animal, and it's water repellent. They float with their feet out of the water in order to control body temperature since they have no fur on their paw pads,
Whale tail!!!
Holgate Glacier is about a half-mile wide at its face and rises up to 500 feet.
Aialik Glacier is the second glacier we saw. Its width is about a mile wide at the face and it is 300 to 400 feet tall. (To me, the pictures belie the actual sizes of the glaciers. Perhaps our boat's distance from each makes a difference.)
Our captain told us to watch the birds. When they gather and get close to the water and get really excited, it means the whales are about to breach. It happened every time.
