Alaska Adventure Day 9: Seward to Alyeska

While we weren’t due to leave the ship until 9:30, our coffee arrived at 5:50 AM!! I guess they were anxious to get everyone up and going—especially since they had to completely turnaround the ship for the new guests arriving that afternoon.

We had a lovely large breakfast- omelet, bacon, Danish… our last free meal! With time on our hand, we took another walk around the ship, enjoying our last few minutes of complete luxury.

Seward Today:
The scene outside the ship was gorgeous. We were docked in the Seward harbor, at the head of Resurrection Bay and at the foot of the Kenai Mountains. Seward historically was a fishing town. Today, it’s a small town with hundreds of fishing boats, small wood frame houses and a huge part of their waterfront dedicated to RV parking!

Seward was hit hard by the Good Friday earthquake in 1964 when a massive earthquake hit Anchorage and the surrounding area. The villagers watched the water in the harbor drain away and immediately realized what was going to happen—a tidal wave—a tsunami. They ran for high ground and the loss of life was minimal when the 100 foot wall of water struck.

Exploring Seward:
It was time to leave the Summit and we shuffled off the ship to our awaiting motorcoach. We met our “Tour Director”, Scott, and our bus driver, Nick. Our luggage was being taken by another bus directly to our hotel in Alyeska, so all we had to do was get on the coach and follow directions.

Within a few minutes, we were at our first stop, the Alaska Sealife Center, a marine research, rehabilitation, and education center opened in 1998 and funded in part by the oil-spill reparation fund established by Exxon after the Valdez oil spill. The center gives scientists the ability to study sea life including the stellar sea lion, porpoise, sea otter, harbor seals, and fish – as well as local seabirds- rock puffins, cormorants and kitty-wakes. At the bird center, Seymour, a juvenile puffin, was making friends with everyone who walked in.

We loaded back on the bus and were dropped off in the ‘town’ of Seward for a quick lunch. We discovered that when the cruise ships drop off their busloads of people, the normally laid-back restaurants of Alaska are stretched to their limits. Service becomes glacially slow and the “lunch and time for shopping” becomes “a LONG lunch and a sprint through the stores”. We ate at Ray’s Waterfront Restaurant and, of course had to try the halibut, one of many halibut meals to come. Mom tried the local ale, “Glacier Brewhouse Blond Ale”.

After lunch, we all gathered at the pier to go on the Resurrection Bay Wildlife Cruise, a 3 hour narrated tour into Resurrection Bay and the Kenai Fjord area. We were on the watch for wildlife and weren’t disappointed. We saw eagles, cormorants, kittiwakes, puffins and the endangered Stellar Sea Lions lounging on a huge rock. We even got another chance to see a humpback whale. The waters were 1000 feet deep.

Off the boat and back on the bus for the trip to the train. We were covering all the modes of transportation today! The Wilderness Express, part of the Alaska Railroad, runs from Seward to Fairbanks. Our stretch on the train was the 3 hour ride from Seward to Alyeska, touted as the most spectacular stretch of scenery on the entire line.

While the White Pass railway was a narrow gauge railway, this was a single gauge. The cars were double decker, domed cars with panoramic views and it was true luxury. The upper floors were equipped with large leather reclining seats and a full bar. On the lower floor was a full dining room. We were on the ‘late seating’ for dinner, so we ordered a glass of wine (and then used our handy “stash” of wine left over from the ship to continue our “happy hour”).

Dinner was wonderful—a gourmet treat! The prime rib was the best ever (oh, if only E.D. could have been here for this one!) and my halibut was wonderful.

Interesting Facts:
* Alaska has 620,000 people and 100,000 glaciers.
* 1 in 60 Alaskans own planes/ 1 in 16 have pilots licenses
* Gas prices: Anchorage: $2.77/ Seward: $3.04

We got into Girdwood about 9:30 and got back on the bus to go to the Alyeska Prince Resort. We got our room keys, got to our rooms and found our luggage waiting for us in our room. The hotel was lovely and our room was luxurious. But at 10:00 PM, we were exhausted and sank into our lovely plush beds.