Church First (Sunday, August 9, 2009) Despite this being a travel day, we opted to attend church before leaving Anchorage, and were accompanied by 3 other couples and a single, filling up a whole pew in a small Baptist Church. We enjoyed the service, but it made us really miss our church at home, Twin Lakes Baptist Church, especially our pastor, Sam and Annette Bailey, and our friends—absence makes the heart grow fonder. Our drive was along Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage, then through the mountains to Seward—quite a scenic afternoon drive—arriving in the campground about 4 PM. We were pleasantly surprised by the full campground, surrounded on all sides by snow covered mountains. After setting up, we drove into Seward at the end of the road, then back a bit and out to Exit Glacier for a cursory view of our visit tomorrow. Seward was very near the epicenter of the 1964 Alaska earthquake, which registered 9.2 on the Richter scale and lasting 5 minutes, the largest recorded earthquake in North America. The entire waterfront was destroyed, hit by two successive 50-foot tsunamis; this was in our lifetime! These large earthquakes have happened up here about every 20 years, and they are overdue now.

Day 2 in Seward, AK (Monday, August 10, 2009) We awoke to clearing skies and cool temperatures in the low 50s. Today was to be packed with fun-filled activities. We boarded a bus for a brief tour of Seward, and a visit to Exit Glacier. Over half of our caravan hiked the 1.2 miles to the glacier, taking lots of photos when we arrived. We then enjoyed a “conversation” with Whitey and Mickey. They entertained us with coffee, tea, cookies, and stories of their early days in Alaska. About our age, they hitchhiked to Alaska in 1967 from Oakland, California, doing odd jobs, raising two kids, and living off the land. They now own and operate the tour company which took us to Seward and Exit Glacier earlier in the day, and have some properties in Seward, and in British Columbia where they plan to retire. (We guess that Seward is getting too crowded for them.)

After a lunch of leftovers and a brief rest, we boarded another bus for a Kenai Fjords cruise and salmon bake on Fox Island. The early part of the cruise was focused on getting to Fox Island for dinner where we enjoyed grilled salmon, prime rib, salad, rice, corn on the cob, rolls, dessert, and coffee or tea. The food was good, but not hot; we sympathize with them trying to time everything on the arrival of the boat. After the quick dinner, we re-boarded the boat and began our search for sea life, seeing up close and personal many sea birds, including the puffin and northern penguin, stellar sea lions, and a humpback whale which was not so up close and personal. Additionally, we saw bald eagles, and several mountain goats. The 4-hour cruise got us back to shore at 9:30 PM, and back to our RV about 10:15 PM, dog tired.

Day 3 in Seward, AK (Tuesday, August 11, 2009) The days are definitely getting shorter, and we actually have “almost” dark for a few hours. Combined with cool evenings, this makes for great sleeping and getting up a little late, 7:30 AM for us. After coffee, we car pooled to the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward. Built from funds from the Exxon Valdez spill, Federal and state grants, and public donations, this center focuses on research, rescue, and education related to northern sea life. It was very well organized, and the exhibits were excellent, with aquarium views of many native fishes, and both aquarium and outside views of several sea birds and a couple of stellar sea lions. After visiting the sea life center, we opted to walk to the harbor area for lunch—can’t get enough halibut—and back to old Seward for a church and store tour. Seward has a great waterfront parking area for RVs to dry camp. When we drove through Sunday evening, it was packed with no vacancies due to the Silver Salmon Derby. Today, there were several vacancies overlooking the beautiful water surrounded by snowcapped mountains. We arrived back at the RV about 3 PM, read email, uploaded more photos to Picasa album, and updated the journal. Tomorrow, we drive to Homer for a 3-day stay.

Our Recommendations for Seward, AK Seward proved to be a great place to spend a couple of days. We both enjoy walking and hiking, and our two favorite things to do were hiking to Exit Glacier from the Visitor Center and walking the entire downtown area, from old Seward to the harbor and back, 3 to 4 miles roundtrip. Also, the Kenai Fjords cruise is worth doing, preferably if it could be done without the salmon bake. The Alaska Sealife Center is highly recommended. Two days is just about right, and we would definitely add Seward to our itinerary for any future visits to Alaska.

Kay’s Take I can’t believe it! It’s 10 p.m. and I would almost say it’s dark! Unbelieveable! Up until this last week, I’ve been reading this late with the natural light available outside. Donald says we’re losing almost 6 min. of light a day. The Alaskans are referring to this ‘time of year as fall’. Very strange indeed. Our guides for the Glacier had to have been 60’s hippies! It was fun listening to their tales of living off the land and back to nature. Now, I suspect they are entrepreneurs and have transitioned from subsistence living to full capitalism! Go figure! That’s what having kids will do for ya. LOL. Our campground is by a river and we look out at the forest and mountains all around us. We’re in the Kenai Fjords area and it’s beautiful. Love the mountains and the water/bays. We’re heading to Homer tomorrow and I suspect it is going to be the most beautiful yet. Haven’t worn warm weather clothing since Tok. I’m going halibut fishing with the ‘boys’ from the caravan this Friday. I’ll be entering the Halibut Derby too. Wish me luck! Hehehehe!
Haven’t been salmon fishing yet – don’t like ‘line-ups’. You can’t believe it til you see it! We probably messed up by not arranging a fly-out fishing trip earlier; that’s probably the only way to miss the crowds. These folks are serious about their salmon fishing.

Campground Stoney Creek RV Park was a pleasant surprise. The sites were large enough to comfortably accommodate the Saturn as well as the RV. The 30-amp electricity was sufficient, though it could be better. Water and sewer were OK, and we received all major networks via cable. Wi-fi did not work at our site, but the RV park had a large room with tables and chairs with excellent wi-fi, open 24 hours a day. The laundry was small, and a bit expensive; neither of us used the showers or restrooms. We would not hesitate to stay here again.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 13,990.0
Beginning Time: 1:00 PM Alaska DST
Ending Mileage: 14,112.5
Ending Time: 4:00 PM Alaska DST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 122.5
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 4,721.0