Day 25 and 26 - "At the Zoo" (Another Simon and Garfunkel tune!?)
Ah! To wake up in a real bed! Now I'm not complaining about our little guy - it is very comfortable but... it's not a real bed in a room with running water and flush toilets nearby! This is a treat. We have not done the hotel thing much this trip, certainly not as much as last year. Perhaps because the weather has been so nice or the campgrounds have been great all the places we have been. Anyway, we are staying in a very old hotel here in Seward and the bed is a big brass bed and we do share a bathroom and shower with one other room but it was not an issue.
Seward is on the coast in a rain forest and therefore it is raining! They tell us they have had an unusually dry and hot summer but that has changed now! Oh, well. We made our way indoors to the Sealife centre. You could spend days in here just exploring the different displays, reading the information panels, talking to the staff about the animals. One of our favourite parts was the seabird exhibit. Oh, what fun to sit and watch the birds. I love puffins and the best ones here were the Tufted Puffins - the look a little punk and have lots of personality - especially one! All the other birds were floating serenely along the water, occasionally dipping under and popping back up. This one tufted Puffin, flapped his wings stirring up the water, bobbed under with great enthusiasm shaking his tail feathers and generally causing a disturbance. Then he would get out of the water, take a dive of the rocks, take an underwater swim, then start the whole process again. Earl called him Sheldon! My wonderful student Sheldon, is a little like that ~ all enthusiasm and activity!
Just past that exhibit is the Stellar Seal water tank. In this tank is a mommy Stellar seal and her 6 week old pup! So cute. Mom was content to sit on a rock in the rain but the baby was in the water, out of the water, on the rock, off the rock - it was a little hard to get a good shot because he did not sit still very long.
This centre takes in animals that have been orphaned, hurt, or harmed in some way and nurses them back to health in hopes of returning them to the wild. It is also a part of the university research on marine mammals. They are involved in some programs to save some endangered animals and birds too and are making progress with their efforts to breed in captivity but then release to the wild. One of their most successful programs in this regard is for Eider Ducks. The baby chicks are just adorable and their markings make them look like they are wearing spectacles! We spent hours in this place and probably could have spent longer if they stayed open!
In the evening, we walked along the main street and popped into the lovely little stores they have with all sorts of local artwork and souvenirs. We had a bit to eat at a microbrewery that was just yummy. We shared a Pear Gorganzola Salad and a place of crab legs. Oh, boy was it good. Earl tried another local beer and enjoyed it. This is something Earl likes to do on our travels is trying different kinds of ale, beer, stouts, porter and cider that the different areas produce. Sometimes they are very good and other times he says "well, I've tried that one but probably wouldn't again"!
We were really hoping to take a tour on the water but the weather is so socked in here that we have been advised that we should save our money. A bit disappointing, but the trips are fairly expensive so we'd rather not go if all we are going to see is fog and rain. We would probably see some wildlife anyway but the weather was still socked in the next day so we decided not to do the trip.
The next day was a lovely leisurely morning, with a Chai Latte, a new book, walking the dog in the rain. We finally checked out of our hotel and decided as the weather had not lifted we would head back to Anchorage. We had lunch at a place that was recommended to us called Ray's. We had just a marvelous table overlooking the harbour with good fish and great service. We took some harbour photos but it is still rather foggy and you cannot see much of the water or the mountains very much beyond the immediate docks.
We headed back up the Seward Highway and made a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre. This is a 140-acre drive-through animal park dedicated to the rehabilitation of orphaned and injured animals similar to the Sealife centre only land animals. Some of the animals will be returned to the wild but others have sustained injuries that do not allow them to be returned to their natural habitat. There were two birds of prey there, an Eagle and an Owl that cannot fly anymore due to injuries to their wings and or flight feathers so they are permanent residents. There is a muskox heard, bison, elk, deer, and moose. There are also brown bears and black bears. We spent most of our time at the bear enclosure. The facility has just built a new viewing bridge so you can get a very good look at these animals. The black bears were a little stressed because there is construction near their facility right now but at 4:00 p.m. it was feeding time and the stress was forgotten when the Red Salmon were being tossed into the enclosure. A very cheeky seagull tried his best to snag some of that salmon but only succeeded in getting one little chunk. The brown bears were over by the water and one in particular put on a great show - swimming, posing, catching a fish! My camera shutter was going as fast as I could press it and we have some pretty good shots!
We did not do a lot more sightseeing as the weather was still a bit rainy but the view of Turnagain arm was pretty good but so windy! We camped for the night at the Municipal campground which at first glance looked good with wooded sights and advertised showers. However the bathrooms and showers were very dirty and did not invite you to linger at all. There was definitely some intersting characters down there and a whacky tobacky convention and Corona did not relax all night with the comings and goings and people tramping through our sight - poor dog so we have opted to go to a more expensive private RV park the next night.
Today will be a busy day as Earl as Milepost business to attend to and I will try to fight with my computer and get the pictures to work - here's hoping.
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