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Skip & a Grizzly in a gift shop |
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 Time has been just flying by since
Chuck came. Each day has been full of one adventure after another. His first day in Alaska we did some sightseeing in Anchorage. A trip downtown to the visitor’s center, the Alaska Mint and of course the multitudes
of gift shops. We drove over to the Gold Mining Restaurant and had lunch and
then walked across the street to the Berry place where we
sampled chocolate. Took some pictures of the 20 foot waterfall of chocolate. Then we drove out to the Eathquake
Park. In 1964 when the 9.2
earthquake hit Alaska the land in this area sunk 5 ft. It is very overgrown with foliage but you can still look down and see the difference. Next we went around the airport where we saw sea planes taking off and landing. From there we drove across the bridge and went to a local sight where the fisherman
were fishing for salmon. We did see one man catch a nice size salmon. The Ulu factory was just across the creek so Sue walked over to take a tour. . A Ulu is an Alaska knife. All of the workers were gone for the day but the gift shop was open.
Not much in there but she did manage to buy Lucas some dog treats.

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20 ft chocolate fountain |

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$12,000 gold nugget at Alaska Mint |
Saturday morning found us on the road to
Seward. The drive was beautiful. The
mountains and all of the water made for great pictures. We arrived in Seward
and went down to Resurrection Bay where we camped right on the
edge of the bay. They charged too much for a parking space with no services but
the view was worth it. When we got there we had a huge water puddle right were
we stepped out of the RV. Skip dug a trench and the water all drained away. We drove downtown and Chuck took us to lunch at the Harbor Dinner Club. Skip had halibut, Sue had crab and Chuck had beef. Food in
Alaska is extremely high.
We then walked in some of the shops and did a little window shopping. Sue
did buy Skip a new pair of suspenders. We had overheard the waitress telling
one of the other customers about some areas to see just a couple miles down the road so we decided to check it out. The road ran along Resurrection Bay down to Lowell Point. Along the way
we saw a couple waterfalls. There was one bridge that was very rutted and not
the safest looking thing. There were a lot of people driving down there in their
motorhomes and for once it wasn’t us! We went back to the RV and watched
the boats and the wildlife. There were a couple sea otters playing in the water
and they made for some good pictures. A young bald eagle perched on a pole just
in front of the motorhome and Chuck was able to get some pictures. We decided
around 8:30 p.m. to drive the four miles out to Exit Glacier and check it out.
The drive was awesome. When we arrived the ranger told us a mother black
bear and her cubs had been spotted on the trail. He pointed to where they were
but we really couldn’t see them. He wouldn’t let anyone walk down
the trail but he said we could take the nature trail so we did. We walked 7/10
of a mile up to the glacier. Just before we got there some other people had seen
a black bear on the glacier. Since it stays light until midnight going
out to the glacier at nine at night was normal. Sunday morning Sue made a Father’s
Day breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon. Around 10:30 a.m., we walked from
our camping site to the boat harbor to take our Fjords Tour. We were advised
that the seas may be to rough and our 8 hour cruise might be cut short. If that
happened we would be refunded some of our money. Chuck and Sue decided to take
sea sick medicine. Sue has vertigo and has suffered with car sickness since she
was a young girl. The first hour of the trip was fine but once we hit the open
sea Sue began to turn green around the gills. Chuck asked the deck hand for a
sea sick bag for his mother just in the nick of time. After that, Sue spent most
of her time outside on the bough of the ship while Chuck and Skip had a great trip.
Sue was able to see most of the wildlife they did but she couldn’t take pictures.
On the trip they saw sea otters, bald eagles, puffins, a black bear on the shore, humpback whales, sea lions and orca
whales. The captain did cut the trip short and we returned to port around 4:30
instead of the originally scheduled 7:30. Skip and Chuck ate a buffet meal of
salad, rice pilaf, red salmon and prime rib on board the boat. Sue opted to sit
outside and breath fresh sea air instead of food. Once we were back on shore
Sue was fine and very hungry. It was a wonderful trip even though we didn't go out as far as we had hoped.

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Skip at Exit Glacier in Seward |

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Exit Glacier, Seward, Alaska from a distance |

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Seward harbor |

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our rv in center |

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Skip on ship |

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whale spout |

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whale |

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glacier from sea |
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