Friday, July 17, 2009 – Anchorage to Seward
The drive from Anchorage to Seward is stunning. Mountains right down to the sea. As a native of a peninsular sandbar that barely pokes up out of the Atlantic Ocean to create the Gulf of Mexico, I’m still in awe of mountains, cliffs, and fjords by the ocean. I would be in awe a lot for the next several days.
We found a spot to set up the RVs in the City lot and camper park right at the water’s edge. To this point in the trip the camping went pretty well, but you can’t have a two week camping trip without some kind of mishap. Fortunately for me, it was Dad’s RV that had the mishap. As he was setting up his slide-out the apparatus stopped moving and started making a clicking noise. He called the rental place and they told him how to disconnect the motor and operate the slide-out manually. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was a little frustrating. Not so bad though that Dad wouldn’t rent from them again. He and Mom were back the next year with eight fewer companions, but that is a different story.
Once we were set up and had our slide out excitement, we walked around Seward. We saw Mile Marker Zero for the original 1910 Seward to Nome Iditarod, which was especially exciting after Aaron’s study of the race and our visit to Dream a Dream Dog Farm.
We ended up at the Alaska Sealife Center where we saw halibut, salmon, sea lions, a sea otter, and puffins. It was a small aquarium but very well done.
After the aquarium we walked around Seward some more and settled on dinner at Nellies. Most of us had fish and chips and they were delicious.
Our waterside campsite was the perfect place to practice skipping rocks. Smooth water is an invitation to kids to find a smooth rock or seashell and make it bounce across the water. Something some of us never outgrow. After a few successful skips, Aaron was no longer content with simple skipping. He added his own flair to his skipping method – flair that included spinning around several times and launching the rock with great force. Of course, when you spin around multiple times you lose perspective and might just let the rock go in the wrong direction. He had 360 horizontal degrees combined with 180 vertical degrees where he could have launched is rock. Of all that space who would have thought he would hit a target as small as a human head – and his sister’s head at that? What are the odds? Delaney was neither amused nor impressed by this impressive feat. Fortunately, she was not seriously hurt, and we restrained her so neither was he.
We ended the day with a small fire right by the shore of Resurrection Bay. An incredible spot to enjoy a fire, take in the scenery, and watch the sea otters play right off the shore.
Where Are We Going Now? 