Day 2

August 15, 2010


At 8:30 AM, Aunt Pam came back from the gym and I woke up to hear, “Good morning, tourist!” After getting ready, we went to the commissary for drinks, snacks, and a cooler. Our breakfast on-the-go was yogurt for Pam and a turkey sandwich for me.

On our way, we got onto Seward Highway. (named for the senator who fought to make Alaska a state! Seward’s Folly was Alaska’s nickname way back when) The road gave way to beautiful scene after beautiful scene! We took advantage of the camera pull outs. At Potter Marsh we walked up the (Steep!) trail and steps to overlook Cook Inlet and the surrounding mountains. Further down the road at Indian Valley, we had to take the opportunity to pan for gold. Dave instructed us (He was professional and has been panning for over 50 years). We were traumatized by a huge goose that chased us around the trough in the predatory goose maneuver. After roughly two hours of panning, we got on the road again with our priceless gold and gems.

At the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, we drove around the facility seeing a plethora of animals! The Musk Oxen were so strange looking. A moose was getting all kinds of attention because he was moving sticks around with his antlers, but we decided that the poor moose had done it on accident and was now stuck with everyone watching. The grizzly bears were awesome and so funny so were the black bears. They hung out right next the fence. Leaving the park, we were hungry so we made sandwiches with banana, peanut butter, and English muffins. Although it was filling, it was very messy. It felt like it was stuck in our throats so we had to drink soda so the carbonation could fizzle it down.

Next we drove toward Portage Glacier (even though the guide book said it had receded and couldn’t be seen well). On the way, we spotted a fish viewing platform so we pulled into it to check it out. Skeptical, we talked about the chances of seeing an actual fish was. Deciding our chances weren’t good, we walked to the platform and looked in. Happily, we were proved wrong by the multiple large salmon swimming upstream. Continuing on, we spotted Portage glacier from a distance and took pictures. Moving on, the glacier could not be seen from the visitor’s center so we turned around. Parking we could see Byron Glacier in the distance and decided to hike toward it.

We wove through a little trail between dense, lush vegetation. Turning onto a side trail, we went to the middle of a river on a rocky sand bar and took pictures. Back on the trail, we made it out closer to the glacier and took more pictures with Byron Glacier in the background. Unable to resist, we each tasted the river water filling our hands and sipping it. It was so cold, fresh, and delicious!

At 5 PM, we arrived in Seward, Alaska and checked into the Army resort. In the Pony Cove rooms, we got room 314. Driving around Seward, we took in the quaint tourist town. Strolling down, the main street we waited until 6 to eat. At Apollo’s restaurant, we ate Italian pasta with crème sauces and seafood. Aunt Pam had penne pasta and salmon and I had fettuccini and prawns, halibut, and clams.

After dinner, we had to walk off our rich meal (that was delicious). So we visited the shops down the main street. Our favorite was the Once in a Blue Moose (lol, funny pun)! Walking down to the water we looked across the water to mystical clouds covering the mountains. Going up the other side of the street, we stopped for cookies n’ cream gelato covered in dark chocolate fudge. In our car, but not ready to head to the hotel, we drove to the other side of Seward and found the ghetto. We passed a waterfall surging down the mountain and going under the bridge. Back through town, we took a picture of the sign informing people what to do in case of a tsunami.

Once again at our hotel, we hung out for a while, but were too tired to do much of anything so we finally went to sleep. We decided not to eat dinner or go to bed when we were ready, but forced ourselves to wait because we didn’t want to be old ladies.

It was a wonderful day in Alaska!