Sunday, July 27 - Driving to Seward

We got up at 9:30 to brilliant sunshine.  I took a leisurely shower (more than 90 seconds) - something I never do in drought-stricken Santa Barbara!   We got a substantial breakfast in the BW restaurant of grilled cheese, scrambled egg and bacon sandwiches and set off at 11:30.

Bob setting up his GPS

We drove down Highway 1 (the Seward Highway)  and a few miles out of town pulled into the Potter Marsh reserve, a vast fresh water marshland formed when the Alaska Railroad built an embankment to separate the area from the sea.  We walked a mile along beautiful wide boardwalks watching Bald Eagles, Canada Geese, and various gulls.  Bob saw a Common Redpoll, a new life bird which I missed. The streams running through the marsh were shallow but we could see schools of about 20-50 large salmon churning up the waters!  Just amazing!  I can see why the animals and people around here live off of fish!

Potter Marsh

We continued down the coast of a long bay called Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet and pulled off on an overlook where Buluga Whales are supposed to be seen.  It was very low tide and we tried to make the far off white caps in the deep channel into whales, but I don’t think we saw any. This area has a tide of 33’ and a possible tidal bore  which can build up to a 6’ wave speeding up the inlet.  We didn’t see it happen but I can see why there were no boats there and many warning against getting stuck in the muddy quicksand on the sandbars!  The clouds were building up and the rest of the day consisted of intermittent showers.

We turned off onto the Kenai Peninsula and drove past forested mountains and miles-long lakes until we reached the harbor town of Seward.  After  checking into the Seward Windsong Lodge at 3;30, we drove downtown where we could see a huge Holland America cruise ship in port along with many fishing boats.  At a fish-cleaning area we saw a gull eating a salmon fillet that Gelson’s would have been proud to sell!

Seward Harbor with cruise ship

A great Chain Saw Bear!

We found the office of the Kenai Fjords Tours where we are to take a cruise tomorrow, stopped at the Kenai Fjords National Park visitor center and walked around the town admiring the many murals on the walls of stores.  We bought some snacks, rum, & coke and returned to our room to relax before dinner at the restaurant next door where we consumed huge hamburgers and salads before returning to our room for bed.

A Seward mural