Train Trip to Seward and Glacier Cruise (9/7)

We took a train with the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to the town of Seward. This picture shows some of the brilliant red fireweed along the track looking from the rear.

The train winds along next to the Seward Highway from Anchorage until just South of Girdwood. Then the track curves away and goes through several tunnels and behind the mountains. This area would never be viewable from the road. The surroundings were full of trees and waterfalls tumbling down high mountains.

Most of the waterfalls are created from melting glaciers and so the lakes at the bottom are a torquoise color that almost seems fake. I had no idea how lush Alaska is. Some of it reminded me of pictures I have seen of Hawaii (except for the glaciers of course).

I believe this is Exit Glacier. It is a huge glacier and is one of the only ones that you can drive very close to. There is a short trail to hike to come right to it. It is leads to the Harding Ice Field above. Alaska has over 100,000 glaciers!

This is the boat we took for the cruise. We saw all kinds of wildlife on our glacier cruise. Unfortunately, there were 25 foot seas so we weren't able to go out in the unprotected waters - which is where the glaciers are. We stayed in the many fjords. We also stopped at Fox Island for a salmon bake - it was GREAT!

As you can see, this is a sea otter. They are cute little guys and are very smart. They have a small pouch under their left arm and they keep their favorite rock in there. After they get a clam or some other shelled creature, they use the rock to bust it open while floating on their backs. This one was pretty close to the boat.

We were able to find a 'pod' of orcas or Killer Whales. There were about 30 in this pod. It was VERY tricky to film them, as you never knew where they would come up. I was lucky with this shot as two of them broke the surface right behind the boat.

This is one of many bald eagles that we saw. The boat seemed to bother him and he flew off to different trees several times. We also saw several stellar sea-lions and a few puffins. The pictures of them that I captured for the webpage didn't turn out so well, so I didn't include them. However, on the video, they came out really nice.