View Larger Map
 |
| We woke up in Seward - the final destination of our cruise All photos for this day All photo albums |
 |
| I took this picture because the nutella smeared plate and french toast scraps looked a lot like a Derek plate. We later confirmed that it was. He always woke up before us and ate breakfast alone. |
 |
| Packing up |
 |
| Bye Bye ms Zaandam |
 |
 |
| My brother, Jason, picked us up at the cruise terminal. He and his wife, Laine, were visiting my sister, Kelley, and her husband, Paul, in Alaska for the summer. They all made the trip from Anchorage and spent the night in a hotel nearby. |
 |
| Over to the hotel to see Laine, Kelley, and Paul |
 |
| We all went for an early morning visit to the Sea Life Center |
 |
| Seward is Mile 0 on the National Historic Iditarod Trail |
 |
| The Sea Life Center was neat and small enough that we got through it on rushed schedule |
 |
| Puffin |
 |
| Kelley and Paul joined us for an 8 hour Kenai Fjords tour with Major Marine |
 |
| Our cruise ship |
 |
| Major Marine has a National Park Ranger ride along to narrate. Our ranger did a great job. |
 |
| The nice book they give you |
 |
| Right off the bat our boat captain found a school of Dall's Porpoise |
 |
| Some killer whales. The ranger told us that these were outsider whales chasing salmon in the bay. |
 |
| There was some incredible scenery. I expected the tour to be all ice covered glacier fjords, but the tour was much more diverse than I expected. |
 |
| It was nice to have a reserved table that you could go back to when you weren't outside |
 |
| Everyone was very excited about this baby orca. The ranger kept telling us how incredibly lucky we were to see such a young whale still red from birth. |
 |
| Momma |
 |
| Dad made a beeline for his family when the boat approached. That whale was fast! |
 |
| Steller Sea Lions |
 |
| Humpback whale |
 |
| It seemed like everybody on our trip had super duper camera equipment |
 |
| Adam holding some glacier ice |
 |
| Sea otters |
 |
| Drinks made with glacier ice |
 |
| Don't know how far away these guys paddled from, but it looked like a great experience |
 |
| Our day would have already been hard to top, but then this whale and his mom put on a show for us |
 |
| It was a long day |
 |
| Some fortifications from World War II. The barrier islands of Alaska are very strategically important and have a lot of military facilities. |
 |
| Birds aren't as fun as whales, but there are a ton of different birds all over |
 |
| 8 hours is a long boat ride, but it was worth it. Everyone always asks us what the favorite part of our trips are. It's hard. How do you capture everything and boil it down to a sentence or two? There are hundreds experiences that are affected by weather, attitudes, food, value, etc. However, after thinking about it. We pretty much agree that the Kenai Fjord tour was our favorite experience. It's not just one thing it's: the feeling that we just had a great cruise vacation and we still had 2 more weeks; finally seeing Jason, Laine, Kelley and Paul; the weather, the scenery, the animals, the tour workers - it all made the tour our favorite trip experience. |
 |
| Jason and Laine joined us for a ride on the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage |
 |
| We all went to the cafe car to visit and have a snack |
 |
| The scenery was beautiful |
 |
| Sun setting on Turnagain Arm |
 |
| Finally, our hotel in Anchorage. We were exhausted. It was near midnight (still daylight) and we had been on the go since before 6 am. |
No comments:
Post a Comment