Alaska 2008

We passed another rough night, weather wise, in Kenai. Wind gusts in excess of 35 MPH and heavy rain at times. I think it was the roughest night we had spent in the trailer since we stopped in St. Cloud, MN on our way to Alaska in 2005. On that occasion we kept a wary eye out for tornadoes that were all around us. By morning, the winds had died down, but the rain continued. Our drive today was a short one, two hours, to Seward. The route had us backtracking on the Sterling Highway to the junction with the Seward Highway, where we turned south for the short run to Seward.

We were in Seward for a couple of days on our last trip but did not visit the Alaska Sea Life Center (ASLC). So, in planning this trip, we decided to spend an afternoon in Seward and visit the ASLC and take in the Behind The Scenes Tour, as well as the self guided tour of the exhibits. One other item on our agenda was to go to Exit Glacier and see if it we could see any visible retreat since 2005. After we set up the trailer and had our lunch, we headed for Exit Glacier. It was a wasted trip... it was raining so hard we would be soaked in the mile round trip walk to the face of the glacier. We waited a while to see if the rain would subside and finally gave up and drove into Seward.

The ASLC is the only aquarium in Alaska. It is also the only marine animal stranding center in Alaska and covers a coastline that is bigger than the coastline of all the other states combined. The displays that are open to the public are quite interesting and focus on the Alaskan marine animals and birds. The highlight of our visit was the Behind the Scenes Tour, which is limited to no more than 12 persons per tour and only given three times a day. The tour took us behind the exhibits to the infrastructure supporting the tanks. It also took us to the research areas. The only area were not permitted to enter is where the stranded animals are rehabilitated because they keep them quarantined. We spent most of the afternoon in the ASLC and it was quite educational and enjoyable. Besides, it was pouring and any outdoor activity would have drenched us.

The real reason Susie wanted to come to the Alaska Sea Life Center was to sit in this boat

The Alaska Railroad mainline runs between Seward to Fairbanks. We have paralleled these tracks and have only seen trains in Denali Park, even though our Anchorage campground was adjacent to the tracks and walking distance from the depot and headquarters. This morning we got stopped on, what I believe is, the only grade crossing on the Seward Highway. The Anchorage to Seward train is scheduled to run once a day in each direction. With all that space and time, we got stopped.

The railroad has a very interesting history. Check out its Web site.