Seward, Alaska

Well, the sunny day that was forecast for Monday didn't happen--blue skies showed through the clouds a few times, and the sun peeked through occasionally, giving us hope, but as the day progressed, the clouds took over more and more. But I keep reminding myself . . . "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it" . . . even when it rains . . . and rains . . . and rains! Actually it didn't rain Monday but today (Tuesday) was constant rain the entire day. Monday we drove from Cooper Landing to Seward, spent some time driving around Seward just investigating, and then we went through the Alaska Sea Life Center (basically an aquarium, where they also do lots of oceanic research). Tuesday we went on a Wildlife and Glacier Cruise in Resurrection Bay and the Gulf of Alaska--not very good timing, weather-wise, but we bought the tickets yesterday when the forecast was for clouds but no rain. I'm sure we would have enjoyed it even more if the weather had been better, but it was still fascinating and extremely enjoyable! Our captain was very knowledgeable and informative and found lots of wildlife for us to look at. Even the birds, which really don't interest me much, became fascinating when he pointed out the different kinds and explained them. We saw sea otters, humpback whales (a mother and baby), bald eagles, puffins, a falcon, loons, common murres, cormorants, stellar sea lions, and orca whales. The captain also spotted a harbor porpoise, but I never saw it. We also watched a glacier and got very close to it. After we got back, we stopped in a parking lot by the bay to call Ernie's brother, and watched a sea otter just floating around the bay close to shore. So cool! Even though it rained and was foggy all day, it was still a great day!

On our drive to Seward, we looked over and saw a moose standing in a pond. We've seen so many moose now that we don't usually stop for pictures, but this time we turned around to get her picture because it was the type of setting we'd seen many times and said, "There should be a moose standing out there in the water." Well, this time the moose was there where we always thought one should be!

When we got to our campsite in Seward, we spotted a bald eagle landing in a tree beside our campsite. (That was after we walked along the river running behind the campground and spotted a pile of bear scat [poop] right behind our campsite! At least that's what Ernie says it is, and the campground attendant did tell us that a bear had been seen in the area.)

The bald eagle taking off in flight

Resurrection Bay in Seward with the little bit of blue sky we saw Monday

The sea otters playing beside the ship as we left Resurrection Bay

Stellar Sea Lions

Common Murres, also called the "Penguin of the North"

Humpback Whale--this was the best picture I could get. They were so fast, by the time I focused, they were gone. I finally decided to just watch them and enjoy without trying to take pictures. So I didn't get any of the Orcas, but they were very cool to watch!

Holgate Glacier

Tomorrow we leave Seward for another adventure and something new--we're driving to Whittier and taking the ferry to Valdez. It will save us quite a bit of driving, since going by water is much more direct than by land!