My first full day in Alaska and I am in love. We flew into Anchorage yesterday, and then immediately drove about two hours to Seward. Seward is a small fishing town located in south central Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, with a population of about 3,000. Surrounded on all sides by Kenai Fjords National Park, Chugach National Forest, and Resurrection Bay, it is devastatingly beautiful.
I have been blown away by the friendliness of the locals who seem to greet everyone with a smile on their faces. As soon as we arrived we headed into town for a bite to eat and were immediately offered unsolicited advice as to the best (and least expensive) places to dine. I was also pleased to see that in such a small town the library was quite large and that it also included a museum inside.
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| Kenai Fjords |
We took a six hour tour of the Kenai Fjords by boat today, and saw wildlife of all kinds, including killer whales, porpoises, sea lions, mountain goats, and puffins. I was in photography heaven, along with most of my fellow passengers, as we scrambled from one side of the boat to the other for the best views. I would have to say that my favorite were the killer whales-- having grown up visiting Shamu at Sea World, it was so nice to see them in the wild. At some points we were surrounded by as many as five or six in a pod, and I couldn't hide my excitement as I scanned the ocean for signs of black fins.
We also visited the Aialik Glacier, which was enormous and enchanting in its appearance. But what surprised me more was the sight and sound of the ice "calving," or breaking off from the glacier's face, plunging dramatically into the sea.
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| Aialik Glacier |
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| More views of Kenai Fjords National Park |
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| Heading back to Seward |
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