Day 14 Seward

This is a great little sea port town..Just what we were hoping for...Lots of history and old buildings. We all had hamburgers for lunch..Huge!!! Also had a cup of seafood chowder which was delicious..The coffee is pretty awful but they do make a good hot chocolate!!(Note the sign.."Cheap beer & lousy food")Decided not to test it....
We wanted to drive then walk up to Exit Glacier but the road was still being worked on so was closed for a few more days..Not to worry as our cruise tomorrow promises to have lots of wildlife including orcas,seals and bird life...We're booke in to the Best Western which is situated on the waterfront..There are many signs around town & in the hotel with instructions for evacuation in case of an earthquake and tsunami!!Makes for a bit of the old nerves getting a workout...Don't like getting in the lift!!Also opposite the harbour are 4 active volcanoes..No sign of life there at the moment thank goodness!!!!!!!

Day 13 Kenai

Travelled down the Seward again but our destination was Kenai on the Peninsula..This area is supposed to be a real eye opener with scenery and it was on the highway down but the town itself was a bit disappointing..Maybe when the snow covering melts and uncovers all the ugly bits is the reason why it looks old and uninviting..The "beach" has grey sand and no waves.After a quick sight see around we were all starving so found "Paradiso" for lunch..The waitress was a big buxom lady who took a bit of a liking to me and called me Li"l Darlin', much to the others amusement...It was a Greek/Mexican/Alaskan menu and we were all very full at the end!
Checked into the Aspen Suites for the night..Huge room with 2 queen beds/lounge/kitchen/full sized fridge/tv/huge bathroom..Very nice..Leanne has done a load of washing in the hotel laundry but we've been washing and drying our undies each night which suits us ok..Weather got down to 1 degree celcius on the way down but apart from the chill in the wind if you stand out in it for long,the temperature isn't too bad..
Tomorrow we will be in Seward and are booked on a Glacier Tour in Resurrection Bay where we are hoping to see some sea life,hopefully whales.

Just a few more pics from yesterday.

Not much to do here in Kenai ,so it looks like an early night!

Photos

Photos from a great day down the Seward Highway

Day 10

Another wonderful day!!Started off with blueberry pancakes and hot chocolate.Yummm.
Decided to drive a little way south and explore as tomorrow we will be driving straight through to Kenai with no time to detour.It turned out a great idea as the road followed the Cook Inlet on one side and marshes on the other..Supposed to be a good place for whale watching along here but no luck..Saw a moose eating young tree buds on the marshy side.He looked a bit scraggy because of losing some winter coat..
Our next stop was a Wildlife Conservation Park.Still very new but was fabulous as we saw grizzly bears/black bear/musk ox/caribou/deer/porcupine and lots of bison..The grizzlies were climbing down into the water and getting fish which must have been stashed somehow under the water for them to hunt for..Once out of the water they climbed back up the bank and ran back & forwards on the snow bank drying off!They were fun to watch....
Next stop was Portage Glacier.A popular spot for tourists in the Summer.There is a gondola ride and a cruise on the lake but the season hadn't started there so all we could do was walk down to the glacier which was just awesome..The road we walked down was piled high either side with snow banks higher than 6ft and and the child in us all just had to have snow fights and play a bit of soccer with the stuff!!
Back in the car and headed down to Whittier which is a sea port mostly..To get there we had to use the tunnel that is 2and a half miles long through the mountain. One way traffic in at 15 min intervals and a longer wait if the freight train gets there before you..There really was a light at the end of the tunnel!!!!!!The village was mostly closed and we were starving but Leanne found a chinese restaurant open so we were saved!!It feeels funny when you're the only people in places, whether for meals or tourist things to explore but has made our trip very memorable.
Back to the hotel and have a little snooze before dinner.Tomorrow we drive down the Seward Highway to Kenai where we were told the whales had arrived on their journey north..Fingers crossed!!

Day 10.. High above Anchorage

Taken at 11pm!!

It was freezing at this lookout above Anchorage.

Day 10

Denali... A wonderful day!!

Day 9

Picked up our rental car from Avis and before heading out we did a tour of the Anchorage Cultural and Heritage Museum..Just a wonderful display to walk through and step back in time a little to see how tough it was living in Alaska..The Athabascans(Inuits)knew how to do things though and were a tough and hardy race.
Down the Parks Highway and planning to stop at Denali National Park..Only just opened for the season but we were able to drive through to Savage River until the road was closed.The information Ctre was open and full of very helpful Rangers..Decided to go back the next day and drive further in if possible,so headed back to a motel/restaurant/bar for the night called The Totem Inn..Spent the evening in the bar and had pizzas for dinner..Instead of a mechanical bull to ride on they had a grizzly bear..Luckily it wasn't in operation otherwise there could have been some very sore people in our car the next day..The motel room was okay except we couldn't turn the tv off,either at the set/remote or by pulling allthe plugs out of the wall!!!Not a very restful night to say the least!!
Back to Denali in the morning and what a difference..It started to snow and the deeper we went into the park the whole scenery was covered and looked absolutely awesome..Saw caribou and pretty birds about dove size which were snow white on the body with a black head and brilliant red around the eyes.We played around in the snow like silly kids making snowballs and throwing at one another.Great fun!!!!
After we left Denali our next stop was a small town called Talkeetna.Had a really nice lunch at " Pizza Pie" where Leanne & I had the best hot chocolate..Bought some more gifts from shops where everything was made locally and uniquely Alaskan.Great little place..
The famous Mt McKinley had eluded us when we were in the park but about 100 miles south we came to a lookout that gave us great views and we took stacks of photos.The rivers are thawing and are a great sight as huge blocks of ice float downstream.
Onwards to Anchorage and we encounter traffic for the first time..Terry did a great job getting us to the hotel in one piece!!