23 May: Chapter 4 - Welcome to Seward

 23 May.  Last shot of Anchorage for a while and it’s a great weather day. 

Bye Anchorage  - heading out we'll be back in 5 days.

We got all packed up and headed out at the crack of 10:00.  This trip takes us South so on the way out of town we did a little more exploring of some new neighborhoods.  Despite the size, Anchorage still comes across with a small town feel and some of the houses were just terrific – not necessarily huge or fancy, just nice. We found a Starbucks (yes!) and headed south on AK 1.  Driving this road is like driving an endless loop of fabulous photo ops.  I don’t remember how many places we stopped, but it seems like each time we grabbed a couple of great pics, over the next hill there were better pics and views.    

The panorama distorts the tracks a bit - not quite that much curve

And a sighting of Beanie’s favorite bird!

The subtle, understated, lackluster favorite bird of the Bean - what can I say!

We stopped by a place where the waterways kind of folded into a smaller flow area and saw a few local “fishing”.  I put this in quotes because all they had was a net.  They were barefoot in glacial waters, granted it was less than a foot deep and the guy was netting small fish called Hooligans (a brand of smelt) and his wife was just grabbing them with her hands.  Oddly enough, she was catching a lot more fish than he was!  They were having a good time and were more than happy for us to photograph their day!        

Water is about 8-10 inches deep and probably in the low 40s

This girl is an incredible "Hand Fisher"!

And she has a great time doing it!!

A few miles down the road we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  This facility has a wide assortment of mammals indigenous to the area to include black bear brown bear, reindeer, moose, wolf, fox, musk ox, and bison (though I am not sure bison are indigenous).  Before we headed out, Beanie needed to eat so we bought a local game bratwurst.  I liked it more than the Bean did, though to her point the casing was a little more “hardy” than it probably should have been, but the meat was good.  It may tell the story of what happens to animal population when they are “retired”.

We began our rounds and had some great views.  The black bear was dug into a pretty comfy looking little dugout. Another one found a nice perch, above the fray and not too many folks to distract him. 

He was reasonably tolerant of all the attention.

This guy - not so much

There was a small herd of Bison with several newborns.  Some of the momma bison were a little skittish.  

This mom appears to be pretty seasoned

I just like this pic.  It looks like it should be on the back of a coin or something.

On the way out, I saw this tour bus backing into a spot and he backed up a little too quick and managed to hit an incline, lifting his axle, thus his traction wheels off the ground.  He was on the phone talking to someone that hopefully could help him figure out a way out of marooning 40+ passenger a hundred miles from anything.

Not a good position to be in.

Back on the road and an hour or so later we’re pulling into Seward.  Seward has about 2200 full time residence, but on any given day during the “season” the size can double, triple, or more depending on how many cruise ships happen to dock.  Beanie set us up in a very nice little place called Harbor 360 Hotel. 

There were about 100 artists the contributed to this mural.

It’s right on the water, with great views of the mountains and the docks.  Here’s a little video shot from our balcony.  You can see there’s a cruise ship in port today.

We got into the room, did a review, and the place was “No Mouth” approved.  If you don’t know what that means you’re probably a recent blog reader.  No Mouth is the first, and maybe the only stuffed animal I ever won for Beanie at a fair – probably 40+ years ago.  I don’t even remember what the game was, but probably a basketball shooting deal. We won him and, on the way out we noticed he didn’t have a mouth – hence he’s No Mouth.  He travelled, literally hundreds of thousands of miles, both with us and just with me when Beanie snuck him in my luggage during my many years of both military and corporate travel.  Here he is checking out the bed – he’s very partial to king size sleeping.

Test drive was positive - No Mouth certified.

We got settled in and I went for a walk about to get some steps and find something for dinner.  We’ve been on the road now for almost two weeks and have yet to get a kitty fix.  We saw one in Juneau, but he was too skittish.  I came across this guy watching every move I made when I was walking about. It was clearly one of his normal perches. Of course this in no way meets the stringent criteria of a full kitty fix as no contact was made.  But you take what you can get. 

Close but no cigar!

I found a local dive, mostly fishermen and dock workers, had a beer, got us a club sandwich for dinner, bought a 6 pack of Alaskan Ice IPA and a little bottle of medicine (well, it may have been wine) for Beanie, and went back to the room.  Sandwich was good, beer even better and it was a good end to a good day.

Steps 10697

24 May.  We were supposed to go on a local cruise today but the Bean was still a little under the weather and the idea of 9 hours at sea was probably not the best move so we moved it to tomorrow.  Instead we drove, first and foremost, to the local Safeway and got a Starbucks – what can I tell you, I like the taste of burnt, bitter, expensive coffee!  From there we continued to the Exit National Park.  It was nice drive, about 20 miles, with nice two-lane roads running parallel to the waterways caused by the glacier.  Lots of folks were out for the day fishing and a few folks camping along way.  The other nice feature is this is a no-fee park, something to do guidelines under which it was established.

It was a well laid out trail, a 3-mile loop in length with a gradual incline to the viewing area we wanted to hit - great views all along the way.  There was evidence of moose everywhere, evidence being moose poop.  We made it to our viewing area and debating heading up further, but the day was young and we didn’t want to burn up all our Beanie feeling-better credits in one shot.

Careful not to eat the Moose seeds!!

Our view of the Exit Glacier

We made the turn to the return portion of the loop and another couple ahead spotted, a momma moose with two calves.  They were pretty well hidden in the trees.  I didn't do a very good job of catching momma moose,  but we did manage to a couple good viewings of the babies.  Overall a really good treat of a sighting - much better than our previous shot of a butt heading into the trees after crossing the road!

Baby 1 on the left and baby 2 on the right

Baby 1 solo

Baby 2 solo

Here's some of the video we did capture.

On the return trip we ventured out to the river area.  It’s really not much of a river, but more the remains and results of glacial activity for many years.  The bed firm grounding primarily made up of granite that has been ground to almost power.  Make me think of my vision of a lunar surface.  Water was flowing in various locations, but it was really more of a large creek vs a river.  This pic gives you some idea of the scale.

Beanie with the Exit Glacier in the background

We also stumbled across a trans elk – clearly this dude thinks he’s elk.

We walked around a bit more and then tried to find our way back to the trail.  After a failed attempt, stymied by the creek, we found a place where someone had placed steppingstones across the water and we made good our escape.  Nice view looking back from the trail.

You can check out more about the park here,  Exit National Park

Back to the trail head and to town.  Once we got back to the room, Beanie was feeling pretty good so we walked to the Alaska Sealife Center.  It has a great location, right on the ocean, on the outskirts of town so there is an unobstructed view.

View from the Sealife Center

This center is primarily a rescue facility for just about anything in Alaska, seals, sea lions, seabirds, as well as an education center for marine life.  I mean, where else can you pet a spotting shrimp or a starfish??

They had a very nice place for a Steller Sealion.  We saw hundreds of them during our cruise, but it was good to see one this close up and out of the water.

He's definitely a big boy.

There was a young couple with a baby, maybe 12 months old, that had clearly just learned to say momma. . . . . .  to anyone and anything.  Here are a couple of really cute videos, IMHO, of this baby, Beanie, and a harbor seal.  Listen for the baby chatting away.

We decided to walk the shoreline back to the hotel and we encountered some interesting things.  First there is epic RV park opportunity all along the coast, literally hundreds of slots all along the water.  Now granted, the slots are really closer to parking spots, there are no trees, and you’re exposed to the winds, but that being said, it’s right on the water and  there appears to be great “flexibility” on how you set up.  Most sites had fire rings, wood is for sale everywhere, and you could set up tables, awnings, etc. as you please.

We also have now officially completed the first mile of the Iditarod as the official starting point is in Seward.

Lastly, the Bean was officially recognized as the fisherman of the day when she hauled in the largest catch of the day – a 195 lb halibut! 

Definitely the catch of the day . . . . and a very nice fish also!

Okay, that’s all BullShit!!!  That being said she was the best photo poacher, having personally posed with hundreds of pounds of fresh halibut of which she had nothing to do with catching.

Good day.

After this we made it back to the room, cracked an adult beverage, enjoyed some dinner and hit the sheets.

Steps 18,567

25 May.  We thought we start our day with a walk to the remaining part of the city we had yet to see – a residential area right at the base of the hill.  Beanie was still a bit on the sick side so we could adjust as required.  The walk was nice with a lot of terrific houses.  Almost all have stilts as they are built on the base of the mountain.   Then our walk took us by the local hospital and we thought, what the heck, let’s see what the wait time is for the ER.  We walked in and they said no problem; however, Beanie had no identification on her.  They agree to process her in as much as they could and “sprinted” the mile and half back to the hotel to get her credentials. When I returned, they already had her in a room looking all hot and sexy with her little mask!   Eh, maybe not.  

This is the most fun vacation ever . . . .

The doc came in shortly and it turned out was a very nice lady out of Anchorage, but originally from Glendale, AZ – just across the valley.  What are the odds?  She got Beanie's vitals and gave us her diagnosis confirming that Beanie had suspected:  conjunctivitis, aka “pink eye” in both eyes.  She also thought she was in the final stages of the flu/covid or had a bacterial infection.  She put her on antibacterial eyedrops for the pink eye and a script for antibiotics.  She called the scripts into the local Safeway (the one with Starbucks, yes!!) and we headed out.  We decided to park at the hotel and walk to Safeway, probably a little over a mile round trip.  While we’re walking, I ask the Bean if she’s hungry and she says, “I’d really like some soup!”  Literally , 15 seconds later we round the corner and there’s a sign, “Soup!  Here It Is?” – you got to sing it like the song, “Whoomp! (The It Is)” by Tag Team.  For those of you not current on 15 year old rap, check it out here on Youtube, Whoomp (There It Is).  Oddly enough this is the same song my golfing buddy Al & I sing when we're looking for our golf balls and actually find it!  Anyway, it’s a small food truck with a small menu, 4 or five soups and grilled cheese. Beanie gets the flight of three different 5 oz soups, all of which are delicious.   Little synchronicity for the day.  We finish our Medivac Walk to Safeway and back to the room.  Beanie is in for the remainder of the day so I head back out for a little more exercise and food gathering for dinner.  The consummate comfort food is the choice – cold beer, hot chicken pot pie, and we're done for the day!   Tomorrow we're Homer bound.  Seems like there should be an Iliad or an Odyssey somewhere in there.

Steps 20,728