Kenai Fjords Tour from Seward

We enjoyed the 8-½ hour tour through Kenai Fjords National Park with dinner at Fox Island. Not only did we see wildlife but also had a wonderful meal of salmon and prime rib as the entrees.

Shortly after we left Seward we saw mountain goats with their kids on the mountainside. This time they were close enough to see which end was front and which was back. They don’t have the curved horns of the mountain sheep but little spiky horns.

It was fun to see the otters play in the water. Another name for seagulls is kittiwakes. Their nests were lower on the rocks while the puffins burrowed higher up.

Sea lions played at the bottom of the rocks.

The Aialik Glacier sounded like thunder or a shotgun blast before huge chunks calved or broke off and fell into the water.

The blowhole of humpback whale was seen before we saw the side and fins.

We saw more wildlife on this cruise than on any cruise that we have taken. I would recommend this cruise to anyone who goes to Seward.

On the Way to Seward

If you have a limited time and want to see Alaskan animals, I suggest you visit the “140-acre Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, jaws drop in awe-even those of longtime Alaskans who've studied grizzlies and other animals up close. AWCC's mission is to provide refuge for orphaned, injured, and ill animals-those that can't survive in the wild.” This quote is from their web page.

The only place we saw musk ox in the wild was close to Dead Horse-Prudhoe Bay area. Then they were only seen afar off.

The brown bear was not hurting the other bear but playing with him. The shaggy bison is loosing his winter coat. The black bear is scratching his head.

Jerry, here is another eagle. He is located in a large wire cage that presents a challenge to taking photos.

On the road again, we stopped at Exit Glacier. The brown flat area in front of glacier is where Terry walked in 2000 or 2002. A moose crossed in front of us on the walking path.
A far off shot of her shows a large white scar. I wonder what happened to her.

Robert, here’s your photo of a magpie.

Joy's Pics

These are photos from Joy’s camera. When she is included, the camera was handed to someone else.

Ray is looking for the dall porpoises who are playing in the stern of the Lu-Lu Belle.

As you can see, we are having lots of fun!!!

Trip to and from Valdez

Starting at the top of the page, Raymond, Robert and Joy are enjoying the wonders of nature and fun being together on our travel to Valdez. Terry took photos but had trouble with his camera shutting off so I took most of the pictures.

Between Palmer and Glennallen is the Matanuska Glacier. The moose are camouflaged but we saw seven of them. One crossed the highway in front of us.

Joy is taking Robert’s photo at Thompson Pass. The snow on the mountains is thawing and creates fast flowing waterfalls such as the Bridal Falls. Raymond and Joy got a little wet climbing the rocks at the bottom of Horsetail Falls.

One museum in Valdez shows mockups of the town of Valdez before and after The 1964 Earthquake while a video shows interviews of the survivors. The other museum shows artifacts of the town in the gold prospecting era when the town was located four miles away.

We took many pictures of eagles but Robert was the first to spot this black bear as we drove around the inlet to Valdez.

The path to the Worthington Glacier still has snow on it so I only ventured part way. Of course no travelogue about this area is complete without photos of the pipeline.

A side trip on the way home to Eagle River was to the Copper River area. Only Alaskans can dip net in Alaska while only native people can operate fish wheels.

Remember to double click in the left bottom corner to enlargen photos.