Seward

We left Willow and headed south with our destination of Seward on the coast of the Kenai Peninsula. Immediately after pulling out of the campground we got another view of Denali form about 90 miles away:

We made another stop along the way and got to see the magnificent mountain again from about 120 miles away:

It was wonderful seeing it with a lake in front! Gorgeous!

We made another stop to see some other mountains by a lake with lily pads:

A final stop at Beluga Point on our way to the Kenai Peninsula:

We don’t see any Beluga’s but Bear enjoyed getting out of the coach and walking around.

We made it down to the Seward area where we camped at the Stoney Creek RV Park:

Not a bad place, great views, 50amp service and along a river. We got to park next to each other again!

We decided to head into the town of Seward for dinner and wanted to go to Highliner because on their menu they had Halibut ceviche. We had a little time to explore that part of town:

After having a drink we got a table and ordered. No ceviche – they just ran out!

The other food was good, so we were happy anyway.

Since the forecast was for rain the next day, we headed over to the harbor for some pictures:

The following day we had a 8.5 boat ride on the Viewfinder to see wildlife and a glacier. Here’s a map of the route that we took out of Seward:

We took a lot of pictures!

Bald eagles:

Harbor seals (no pictures).

Sea otters:

Orca whales:

Humpback whales:

Puffins (Tufted and Horned):

Fin whales (no pictures).

Dall’s porpoises: (no pictures).

Stellar sea lions:

Northwestern Glacier:

Absolutely breathtaking!

Cataract Falls:

We would highly recommend Major Marine and the Viewfinder excursion, especially with Captain Justin and First Mate Andrew!

We thought that we would get that ceviche and went over to Highliner again – they didn’t have any! Since we were wet and cold we headed back to our buses for the evening.

The next days’ forecast was rain again so we hunkered in on the buses until the early afternoon. The rain never really materialized but every hour it was supposed to rain. We decided to hike the Tonsina Creek Trail that First Mate Andrew told us about:

Wonderful hike through the forest that opened up to the bay!

After the hike we thought we would try to get that ceviche again, but this time we called. They ran out of it again! So we headed to Ray’s Waterfront. We got some pictures from around that area:

We decided to extend a day in Seward to hike the Exit Glacier because we couldn’t do that with the rain. So the following day Jeff and Molli got up early to hike all the way to the top of the Harding Icefield, while Sheree, Katrina, and I went later and hiked up to the Exit Glacier viewing point.

Katrina and Sheree walked down to the glacier plains:

We stopped and got our picture taken at the NP sign:

We met up with Jeff and Molli at the Highliner to finally get the ceviche. Wow! We were so so disappointed! Worst ceviche I ever had! We did decide to eat there anyway. On the way home we stopped and picked up some halibut to make our own some point in the future. We also stopped to smell the roses:

Happy almost Independence Day!