The morning after our last blog entry, we continued south toward Palmer, Alaska, by way of the Sheep Mountain Lodge – a place notorious for their delicious, homemade pies. JD has been savoring their cooking for 30 years. Sadly, that particular morning, there were a scant 3 pieces remaining – all apple. Our table quickly placed our orders, with JD finishing his piece a la mode, after breakfast – and before we remembered to snag a picture! The picture we did take, of one of the two remaining to-go pieces, simply does not do justice to this delicacy.

Bellies full, we got back on the Glenn Highway headed south, marveling the Matanuska Glacier, a large valley glacier that feeds the Matanuska River and lies easily in view of the highway for many miles. JD and his staff used to train on this glacier for their mountaineering rescue efforts on Denali.

We bypassed Anchorage and headed for Seward, where we parked our campers at Windsong Lodge courtesy of our friend Fernando, a senior executive for Pursuit’s Alaska Operations. With Windsong as our base camp, JD and I headed over to Seward’s Boat Harbor, where we scored a boat slip for the week. When we returned to camp, Lee and Kathy had already scared up a moose (or perhaps we should say it was the other way ‘round) while disconnecting their trailer in the Windsong Lodge parking lot!

JD and Lee were out fishing our second day here, braving the rain. Meanwhile, Kathy and I savored the reprieve from navigating, doing laundry, exercising in our campers, walking dogs and catching up on phone calls. It wasn’t long before JD and Lee were sending us photos and videos of a pod of Orcas, all around their boat! They returned to camp that night, sans fish, but full of whale tales.

The next day, I joined the guys out on the water, while Kathy – who is prone to severe motion sickness – graciously stayed back at the campers with the dogs. The weather was beautiful – with bright blue sunny skies overhead, and calm(ish) seas. We headed out into Resurrection Bay toward Fox Island – spying horned and tufted puffins, plenty of seagulls, a pair of bald eagles, and sea otters – but no fish. Toward the end of our day, we headed to Bear Glacier – one of the many glaciers that feed Resurrection Bay. As we approached, we encountered floating chunks of ice in the cloudy glacial waters of the bay. JD and Lee retrieved some for drinks back at camp. The glacier’s terminal moraine was easily visible, a considerable distance from its current end. I sat on the bow of the boat, contemplating how poignant it is to know that you’re watching the end of something, while it is still here, able to be experienced, and treasured.

Lee and JD ventured back out on the boat again the next day… this time returning with one, precious sockeye salmon…. And lots of laughs.

While still in Seward, we visited the Alaska Sea Life Center – the only facility in Alaska that combines a public aquarium with marine research, and wildlife response. One of a network of aquariums dedicated to education and outreach on behalf of North America’s marine ecosystems. Aquarium tanks filled with various species of saltwater fish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers…. an outdoor aviary with tufted and horned puffins, rhinoceros auklets, long-tailed ducks, common Mures, and glaucous seagulls – where the puffins and mures perched and preened on rocks within 10 inches of our faces! Before visiting, we learned that the Center was caring for a baby walrus, originally reported abandoned by some oil workers out at sea, who spotted the month-old walrus near their rig and called it in. At the Center, we briefly observed staff providing care to the walrus, and learned that the baby was between 100-150 lbs, about half the weight expected for its age. Sadly, the day after our visit the Center notified the public that the baby walrus had died – succumbing to the myriad conditions that may have led it to be abandoned by its mother at sea. Although sad, the rescue and rehabilitation effort reminded me of the dedication of those that I worked with throughout the course of my career at the US Fish and Wildlife Service – and illustrates the concern and dedication that we humans are capable of, when we care about something beyond ourselves.

More on our time in Seward, in our next post….