July 4, Mt. Marathon Race, Kenai Fjords Cruise

July 4, 2013

Leisurely morning with blueberry pancakes.  We caught a shuttle downtown at 10 AM and the festivities were well under way for the Mt. Marathon race.  Begun years ago on a bar bet , it  draws runners from a wide area to race up Mt. Marathon, which is a crazy steep mountain just beside town.  It is so steep at times that the race is a combination of climbing, running, jumping and sliding, and most of the participants had a good coat of mud at the end (they were hosed off!).

Mount Marathon

There was a parade as well and the town of 2400 swells to near 40,000 this date! We caught the end of a race for 7-17 year olds, wandered through a few stores (found a card reader! Yeah!), had a reindeer hotdog at a stand, then watched the women’s race.  All shapes and sizes.

Took the return shuttle – didn’t hang around for the men’s event in which two new records were set, upsetting the record from 1981! 

  Back at the campsite, Greg did a load of laundry (!) of jackets and sweatshirts.  They have been getting quite a workout.  Today began at 45 degrees and didn’t get much above mid-fifties.  Seward is very temperate in that their temperature in Winter doesn’t go much below freezing and Summers’ high is usually in the 50’s.  And they get a lot of rain.  The harbor is considered ice-free, though a sailor I spoke to today says it can freeze but not deep enough to damage boats, so he keeps his boat here year-round. 

Did some computer stuff and then put together a salmon and cream cheese ball for the pot luck.  They had a nice room we were able to use and it worked out great for all 24 of us!  Lots of good food like ribs, chicken, sausage, cheeses and crackers,  a couple different salads, and of course cookies and brownies for dessert.   Juanita and Joe provided some Asti Spumanti for a toast to our wonderful country.

People shared pictures and stories and future itineraries.  Some will start homeward after this, some have other travel plans (like us and the marine ferry) and a large number will go to Chicken, Top of the World and Dawson City.  We may meet some again after Prince Rupert.

July 5, 2013

Woke early this morning and talked with Bryan a bit, as we knew he’d have a slow day at work today.

We disconnected and drove downtown for a 6 hour Kenai Fjords cruise.  Weather didn’t cooperate, as these low clouds will attest.

Seward is located on Resurrection Bay and we saw some porpoises and a humpback whale within a short time.

humpback whale, really

 After that it got pretty rainy and cold and we didn’t see much till we reached a lovely glacier.  Sitting quietly next to it we could hear the cracks and rumbles and see some small calving (chunks of ice dropping into the water). 

Sea Lions

We saw several groups of stellar sea lions basking like slugs on the rocks.  Can you bask in rain and 42 degree weather?  Anyway, they appeared to be sleeping.  We then came to Barrow Island which is a haven for lots of birds….kittiwakes, puffins, gulls, a few eagles, cormorants and other birds were roosting on rocks and cliffs, sitting in trees, floating in groups (rafts) on the water, and doing other bird things.

The puffins are cute and fairly uncoordinated.   Other birds (were these the kittiwakes or lesser or greater something else?) looked like miniature penguins and swim and dive like them too. 

We saw another whale and more sea lions and porpoises.  Spied one sea otter floating along., and then it was back to the docks.  Still raining and we were relieved to get into the Trek and turn the heat on to dry out a bit. 

Back to the campsite for some dinner and r&r.    Last day of electric and wi-fi for a while, so trying to get everything caught up!