Seward City RV Park, Seward, AK
Hello all, we are now at the City RV Park in Seward. This place is supposed to have power and water. At least the water is still on. We were getting breakfast, the microwave was on, and the electric fan/heater was also running, when snap, everything went dark. I checked the breaker, but it was not the problem; seems the power to the RV Park went out. Anyhow, we are here and set up for a couple of days. This afternoon, we are taking a cruise to the Kenai Fjords area, in the rain. There will be more on that in my next post. Here’s our update for the past several days…
Monday, 22 August 2011
Eagle River State Recreation Site, Anchorage, AK, USA
Monday was a travel day, we got packed up at Eagle River SRS, and began our drive to Seward. The highway along the Turnagain Arm is amazing:
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| Turnagain Arm, AK; Morning Light. |
We plan to be back there to see a bore tide later this week, and to have a nice dinner at the Alyeska Resort, Seven Glaciers Restaurant atop Mt. Alyeska. On our first trip here, we had planned to do that and made reservations long in advance, but the night we were there, a wedding party had booked the entire restaurant. So, while we were treated to a free dinner down below, it just wasn't the same.
The next point of interest along the way is the rail / highway tunnel (Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel) to Whittier; we lined up, paid our toll, and then drove the two miles through the tunnel to the town. Whittier is a port town, built during WW II to handle war supplies for all of Alaska. Today, it exists to support shipping and tourism. There isn’t much else there. 80% of the people in town live in a huge apartment complex that was build in the 40s as base housing for the port.
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| Defunct WWII era Whittier town center. |
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| 80% of town residents live in this WWII era residential tower; there isn't much else. |
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| The Inn at Whittier Resort Hotel |
The mountains around Whittier are notable, with glaciers hanging on their edges and water cascading down the face of the cliffs. We looked briefly at the town museum, and then headed back to the tunnel and the Portage Glacier Visitors’ Center.
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| Mountains and waterfall, outside Whittier Town. |
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| Whittier Portal of the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. |
After an uneventful trip back west through the tunnel, our next stop was the Portage Glacier, which has retreated a significant distance since we last saw it in 1997. At that time, it extended some distance into the lake and there was a lot of ice floating out from the face. Now, the terminus is not visible from the VC.
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| Portage Lake and Glacier. |
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| Portage Lake and Glacier, with row boat. |
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| Portage Lake and Glacier, with tour boat. |
The Visitors’ Center has some excellent displays, and the surrounding scenery is beautiful. The above picture was taken from here, looking east (to the right in the following image).
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| VC in background; it was windy, too. |
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| Portage Lake and Glacier, from the VC Theater (excellent videos available). |
We checked out the Williwaw Campground, just down the road from the Visitors' Center, for our return trip and expect to stay there late this week, as we start heading north.
Then we cruised south down the highway to Seward. The roads have been rebuilt since our visit here in the late '90s, so they are much easier driving and provide significantly better visibility; the scenery is just beautiful. We were fortunate to see a bit of sunshine and blue skies among the clouds. It was a good time; only, I was so busy driving and looking around that I missed taking any pictures.
On arrival in Seward, we checked out the RV Park I’d chosen from a guide, and decided that it was not going to work for us. We looked at several other spots, and finally ended up on the waterfront at the City RV Park. The area used to be an industrial port, but it was wiped out by the 1964 tsunami and rebuilt as open space. So here we are, and now it is time for us to leave for our cruise. More later.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Eagle River State Recreation Site, Anchorage, AK, USA
Unfortunately, Sunday morning came and Lin was feeling a bit down. We slept in most of the morning; finally, about noon we went into Anchorage to look around; there is lots to do, but for our time there, we walked through the weekend downtown market. Many booths to see, and we bought a few gifts to bring back to the Lower 48 as they call it up here. Then back to Eagle River and an early dinner and bedtime. We'll try to get back for a couple of additional days here after our stay in Homer. No pictures from this time, either.
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Talkeetna Camper Park, Talkeetna, AK, USA
On Saturday, we got up a bit late, took down the trailer and got ready to leave. Then, we drove from Talkeetna to Eagle River CG, north of Anchorage. The weather wasn't great, so no pictures from this road segment. The campground was busy and nearly full, but we were able to find a nice spot to set up. We had a leisurely evening, and planned to do some sightseeing in Anchorage on Sunday. So ended the day...
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