April 7th
– April 13th 2014
It got colder again. Monday and Tuesday
were first two night shifts for J. Apparently they were fine. On
Tuesday, there was a bit of snow and it snowed throughout the day
some (it was gone by the evening). Winter does not want to leave
Alaska, we do not enjoy that. We got used to “warm winter” in
California and Arizona, it is going to be hard to be back in
Michigan. Otherwise nothing really special. We are trying to plan our
longer trips because between night shift schedule, distances, and
many things being still closed – it is not easy to plan it.
Wednesday, J. got home after the second night shift and
went to sleep. It was her “switch day” - sleeping part of the day
and then going to sleep in the night – and it did not work super
well. Yes, “Monsters Inc.” was back (unfortunately). Because it
was the first switch day in very long time it was quite hard. We took
the afternoon and evening easy and did not do much. It was another
cold morning on Thursday. J. could not go to sleep and
then slept terribly, not a most pleasant morning. We got ready and
left the house a bit past nine o'clock. We were heading to Seward to
check out Kenai Peninsula. As most of the Alaska's road, this one too
was scenic. We drove along the Turnagain Arm toward Portage, nothing
really special there. The mountains are still covered with snow and
we did not see any Beluga whales either. When we lost the sight of
the arm we saw the landscape that was even more “wintery”. The
road was just fine but the mountains and everything along the road
was covered with quite a bit of snow. It is definitely very different
picture of Alaska but unfortunately it also makes our stay somewhat
difficult. Several stops along the way as we were enjoying the
scenery. There are several trails along this road but they are mostly
long (paradise for those who enjoy several days of backpacking and
crossing the mountains), there are few shorter trails but not really
for winter season. Kind of quiet and empty country. Pretty good road,
some frost damage. Just before the town of Seward (population of
about 2700) we turned and wanted to visit Exit glacier (one of the
few glaciers that are easily accessible). Not much snow around us,
almost no snow except on the mountains. We got stopped by police
because they were shooting a movie (Sugar Mountain) on the road.
We were offered detour but there was another guy with
police car. We left with the thought that we will try later. We
quickly stopped by visitor's information (again, not much to do in
town because of the season). Small town, harbor, commercial fishing
(Seward is apparently number 9 on the list of the US fishing ports
based on the value of catch), and really breathtaking view of water
and mountains. We drove a mile down the road (it ends there) and were
going to take a walk on the trail along the coast, J. did not want to
because we would be walking really close to another loud couple.
Drive to the Exit glacier again – the road closed and (we were told
several different things) apparently about 5 miles to the end of the
road (to walk) and another mile or so to the glacier. More than we
wanted to do so we left. We drove to the other side of the bay (more
incredible views) and unable to find one of the shorter trails. End
of the road again. Seward is really quiet and sleepy in winter.
Otherwise it is cruise ship port so in summer it is probably busy. We
returned on the other side of the bay and walked the trail we
originally wanted to walk. Relatively flat, not many views (a bit
back from the coast, in the woods). Snow. Pleasant walk that ended
(1.7 miles or so) in small bay where river meets ocean. In summer
(based on information from the trail head) there are bears catching
salmon. Now it was quiet, peaceful, and beautiful. Walk back. Dinner
(recommended restaurant where we sit down and saw sea otter swimming
by) and motel. Both tired. We could sleep in as long as we wanted to
(pretty much) and J. slept until nine o'clock. It was Friday
morning in Seward. Not horribly cold, sun was up, and all around us were snow covered
mountains. We drove through the town to the Alaska Sea Life Center
http://www.alaskasealife.org/.
It was interesting and quite informative but it was far from the top
experience of Monterey Aquarium in California. Some fish. Salmon.
Seals. There was really nice area with bunch of ducks. It was pretty
small place but we spent there almost two hours. After that we
started driving north towards Anchorage. Several stops along the way,
the same beautiful scenery. We had still some time left so we took a
detour to a small town of Hope (about 15 miles from the main road).
It used to be mining town on the Turnagain Arm, there are still some
houses, paved roads just ends, and there are some amazing views of
water and mountains. No more wild life. And there was really nothing
to do in Hope, apparently it is somewhat “livelier” in summer.
Still, the drive was incredibly scenic. And … drive back home to
Anchorage. That was pretty much all. Weekend and actually the end of
our third week in Alaska, Saturday and Sunday. J. had
her normal work days (went fine). It is warming up (there was at
least one night that it did not go below 32 degrees) – summer is
here! There is still some snow. Other than that … life goes on. On
Sunday, after I picked J. up at work we saw moose eating a tree just
across the street from the hospital's entrance. Finally real
Anchorage moose.
