Seward, Alaska

Bob and I visited Seward in 2010. One of the things we missed on our previous visit was Thorn's Showcase Lounge and their 'bucket of but.' The whole time we were in Seward, Bob kept telling me about the bucket of halibut being a great buy and we would get it when we got to Homer! Well. the halibut was in Seward the whole time. Needless to say that the 'bucket of but' was on my list of things to do and see this trip.

Once we arrived in Seward, we parked along Glacier Exit Road next to Resurrection River. It was a great site with very little traffic noise at night.

One of the first things we did after set up was to drive to Exit Glacier and walk the Glacier overlook trail. From a distance we could tell that the glacier had shrunk quite a bit since our last visit. Bob estimated that it had receded about 100 yards from the bottom.

It had also receded from the sides. You used to be able to almost touch the ice from the overlook.

The glacier overlook trail became our 'go-to' for a daily hike when the weather wasn't cooperating (cold and cloudy) for us to take a long hike.

Another of our side trips was to the fish weir along Bear Lake Road. We could see the salmon waiting in the creek to make their last swim up creek to their home.

The salmon had to try many times to jump up the weir. We saw many try to make the jump, but they were all camera shy.

 Some who made the jump were lucky enough to make it past the weir and on to their spawning place. Unfortunately, some of the fish ended up on ice to be sent to a local fish processing plant.

 Another of the places to visit in Seward is Mt. Marathon. Every 4th of July there is a race to the top of the mountain. Let me tell you, it is one treacherous mountain! Connie and I walked up the base which is the start of the race.

 The young lady on the right continued on up the mountain. She paused where the trail made a sharp right turn to find her footing. Several others who were practicing for the race came down the mountain. The time for one of them was 1 hour 11 minutes up and 32 minutes down. I think the record for the race is 42 minutes, 55 seconds! It is a 3.1 or 3.5 mile race depending on the route you choose to the top of the mountain and down again. There is a 3022 foot elevation gain.  As I said before, not a race for the wimpy.

 On returning to the RVs one afternoon, we watched as some kittiwakes chased an eagle. Well, as it turned out, they were trying to get the eagle to release their friend or family member. The eagle didn't comply and proceeded to pluck the feathers off their friend before taking the plucked kittiwake to its nest to feed the family.

 Bob and I went geocaching and saw this man walking his pet. It was the first caribou we had seen this trip.

 Near one of the other geocaches, we spotted these ducks resting on a piece of wood.

 The weather always seemed to be cloudy and cold in the mornings, but there was a promise of good morning weather on our last day so Bob and I planned an all day hike. More on the hike of a lifetime in the next installment!