After our adventure in the Arctic Circle we drove down to Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula, to meet up with Steve's family and take a day-cruise on Resurrection Bay (thanks Dad!). We enjoyed a few drinks at the HooDoo Brewery in Fairbanks and dinner at Silver Gulch Brewing in Fox before driving most of the way to Anchorage overnight. In the morning we woke up and did the more scenic portion of the drive through the Chugach State Forest, enjoying the countless views of mountains, inlets, lakes and glaciers before arriving in Seward at noon.
The cruise wasn't scheduled to depart until 1pm, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch out of the rain on the boat ramp and watched the jellyfish drifting lazily through the harbor. The sky began to clear shortly before the boat left the harbor, and we sailed away from Seward under blue skies with a brisk wind. The majority of the passengers on the cruise seemed to be from some sort of historical society, and there was a guest-narrator who focused mostly on the military history of Resurrection Bay. We sailed past huge mountains with hanging glaciers, along rugged coastline, and past islands both large and small that had been used as lookout posts during WWII.
The cruise wasn't scheduled to depart until 1pm, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch out of the rain on the boat ramp and watched the jellyfish drifting lazily through the harbor. The sky began to clear shortly before the boat left the harbor, and we sailed away from Seward under blue skies with a brisk wind. The majority of the passengers on the cruise seemed to be from some sort of historical society, and there was a guest-narrator who focused mostly on the military history of Resurrection Bay. We sailed past huge mountains with hanging glaciers, along rugged coastline, and past islands both large and small that had been used as lookout posts during WWII.
The weather seemed unable to make up its mind, and the mix of sun and rain provided us with some beautiful rainbows as we headed South, but the clouds in the distance began to take on a darker more sinister hue. Soon enough we spotted lightning in the distance, and as we rounded the corner toward Bear Glacier and Kenai Fjords National Park the seas grew rough and we were pelted with pea-sized hail. After a brief view of the glacier the boat turned North again and headed back toward fair weather. We passed a colony of stellar sea lions relaxing on the rocks at Cape Resurrection, and enjoyed an escort of porpoises surfing our bow-wake as we got closer to the harbor. The boat docked around 4pm, and as we walked back towards town we passed a beautiful sea otter relaxing on his back and enjoying his dinner of mussels from under the dock.
For dinner we went to a nice seafood restaurant right next to the bay and only a short walk from the hotel everyone was staying in. The next morning we ended our time in Seward with a brief walk around downtown before meeting up with the family again for a short hike out to Exit Glacier. The drive back to Anchorage was just as beautiful as the drive out, and we made several stops for photos before arriving in town that afternoon.
For more pictures, see the Photo post.
For more pictures, see the Photo post.
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