Anchorage to Seward

6-18-06Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. We had a great time in Anchorage. I was finally able to get a wi-fi hookup at a little cafe there so sent as many pictures as I could. We walked around Anchorage downtown on Friday and they had a street fair in one of their parks there. There are many parks in Anchorage. Everything about this state shows the people enjoy being outside. There are bike trails along the highways for miles and miles. These trails are also used for snowmobiles and dog sleds in the winter.
Friday night we went to the home of my nephew and his wife in Anchorage and had a wonderful halibut dinner and lots of visiting. This is another couple we have never visited much with and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. The nephew we had dinner with in Fairbanks was also down with his wife so the six of us got caught up on the rest of the family.
Friday night we drove to Eagle River just north of Anchorage for my dog trial on Saturday. The people there were so great and we had a good time, even though our runs were not the best. The sun was out most of the day and we were through by 2 so packed up our tent and unhooked the truck and went to get hair cuts as we were getting pretty shaggy. When we came out from getting the hair cuts, it was pouring rain! Hit the road at 4:30 am today, Sunday. Drove to Seward with a side trip to walk out to the Exit Glacier. The drive to Seward was beautiful. This area of Alaska is surrounded by mountains and everything is so green with lots of snow here and there. Our camping spot is right on the water. Have been walking for the last hour in the rain - so glad we brought our umbrellas.
There is an area of water south of Anchorage that is called Turnagain Arm. It is similar to Elliott Bay but more shallow and the tide range is more than 33 feet. A bore tide is an abrupt rise of tidal water just after low tide, moving rapidly landward, formed by a flood tide surging into a constricted inlet such as Turnagain Arm. This foaming wall of water may reach a height of 6 feet. The beach is very sandy, but the guide book says to stay off the sand as there is a lot of quicksand because of all the silt washed down from the glaciers. We didn't get to see the bore tide, but maybe will luck out on our return trip after Whittier as we head north again through Anchorage and up the Glen Highway to Glenallen and Tok.
We ran into our motorcycle friends today. At least three of them are here in Seward. They are catching a boat from Whittier to Valdez, but the other two are riding their bikes to Valdez so I think they are on their way to Anchorage now.Now we are going to unhook and drive to another part of town where we saw wi-fi advertised. If you get this today you will know we were successful.