Seward, AK

July 31, 2010

We left Valdez in the morning about 9:30. Today’s destination is Seward. We could also take the ferry to Whittier but it would be a lot more expensive (over $800 for 6 of us plus the RV). We took our time and stopped at small towns and several vista points. The weather was rainy and cloudy most of the way until we got to Anchorage. Everything seemed to be a bargain at Anchorage – gas was 30-40 cents cheaper per gallon ($3.36/gal vs. $3.79 in Valdez and along the highway and $3.69/gal in Homer). We bought more food at the super Walmart then headed to Seward.


The scenery on Seward highway outside of Anchorage was breathtaking – the ocean shore,

the rail road next to highway,

the mountains with glacier, the air was so fresh,... it was just absolutely beautiful! We took a little detour to Whittier was was about 60 miles south of Anchorage.

It was also very scenic on the way to Whittier. We parked at the visitor center parking lot and looked this big chunk of ice right in front of the visitor center builder and wondered if it were real because it was the only piece of "sculpted" ice around in the "pond". We found out later that it was from the nearby Portage Glacier about a week ago, all the smaller pieces had melted away.

It was getting late and we didn’t feel like paying for the toll to go through the tunnel so we turned around before the tunnel. We got to our RV site in Seward after 9pm.

August 1, 2010

This Husky-looking dog was begging for food in front of RV in the morning. He was a neighborhood dog from one of the houses near the RV park. We fed him some leftover fish and hotdogs. We thought Cara would love it if we could bring him home.

I took Matt to the Sea Life Aquarium while the rest of group took walk around town. The most impressive thing I saw in the Aquarium was the birds diving into the water and swam around like fish (but with much faster speed) look for food. Their wings worked like fins and they could hold their breath for more than 2 minutes.

Some birds can dive under more than 6,000 feet with a single breath according to the people working there. Matt ran into a glass wall and bounced back like Super Mario long jumping straight into a wall. It was very painful... @#* (AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!) ...

After the Aquarium, we went to the Crab Pot restaurant where auntie Amy ordered a King crab for us to share.
She had always wanted to try a fresh king crab so I took pictures before and after the crab was cooked.
It tasted a lot like lobsters and it was delicious.

After our afternoon snack, I took Matt to Seward High School pool to swim. We only had about a hour and 15 min and swam about 2,500 yard.

August 2, 2010

We went to see Exit Glacier in the morning

with a park ranger and learned many interesting facts about glacier – why the water in the water/stream was clear or murky, how to determine the years for glacier retreat, etc.

We took some pictures in front of the end (toe) of the glacier and wished we could have climbed on the glacier like what we did a few year ago at the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

We then went to the sled dog place next to the Exit Glacier. It was the high light of our trip learning about Iditarod race and petting Husky puppies.

This Husky dorm... each"room" was a 50 gallon barrel...

Those hard working dogs didn't ask for a lot...

Those Husky puppies were so tame and well trained...

We looked like Husky parents...

Those puppies loved to sniff and chew figures...

Maybe I should consider becoming a musher...

The musher showed us how to prepare for a dog sled race...

We had arrived "Nome"...

We came in first...

These were our lead dogs, our musher/guide referred the gray-white one as air-head. A lead dog doesn't need to be smart (although smartness would definitely be a plus), the most essential traits for a great lead dog are motivated, dedicated, hard working, and obedience to the driver (musher).