Farewelling our sailing hotel, we joined our new tour group to take us onwards and upwards into Alaska. To introduce us to Seward we were told:
"In 1964 a 9.5 earthquake hit Seward causing damage and a large blaze. Shortly after, a tidal wave came up the inlet and washed away what was left of the town."
Thus we received all the necessary information regarding the last and very small port of call for our ship.
We headed to what is possibly the only thing to see in Seward itself: an animal conservation park with enormous sea lion bulls and a large octopus that had just laid out great quantities of its spiderweb-type baby strands.We were then herded onto a small boat and out to the deep sea bay. We saw three orcas (killer whales), an otter floating on its back [otters are much bigger than I thought they were!], wild goats perched precariously on the cliffs to avoid bears, two glaciers in the distance, and large rocky islands where snow came down to the sea.
[Jahda: It had been a big couple of days so Amanda (and half of our tour group) had a little nap on the boat. The rest of us saw some dolphins and lots of bird life, including the puffin. Second funniest name for a bird ever... just behind the much aligned Dodo.]
We were taken to a wild island for a lunch of salmon. The beach is made of dark smooth pebbles. It's nice to look at but difficult to walk on.
Later, we travelled as a group on a glass-roofed train. Just before jumping on, I stepped away and did 10 pushups and some stretches and sprint runs on the spot. I'm getting softer round my middle and my body needed movement!
The train ride was right up there as a good thing to do before you die. Thankfully we didn't, as no wild moose or bears stepped on to the train track and all avalanches had been taken care of earlier in the season by an old war helicopter that shot bullets at the mountain to release potentially dangerous loose snow. We saw very thick snow, another glacier, a porcupine shuffling across the snow, frozen swamps, snow wrapped mountains, winter wonderlands, and bare brown landscapes. The group at dinner below us in the train apparently spotted a brown bear quite close to the train.
[Jahda: we've never seen so much snow before. It was supposed to be summer and just a week ago they had 70 inches of snow fall in one of the towns we visited. That's almost as much as the Australian alps receive in a year... and it was summer! Crazy. Unfortunately there are only two ski resorts in Alaska and they are pretty small.]
Apparently there was a moose on the track once. The train driver blew the horn and - as moose are want to do - it decided to charge the perceived threat. Train vs charging moose = lots of moose to go around.
Speaking of which, there is a road kill register. I kid you not. Families sign up on a list and when a moose or caribou is hit on their stretch of the highway they get a call and can collect their dinner to go.
Over the next few days we saw an animal sanctuary park where we saw many of the wild animals (live) right up close. These included moose, a porcupine, bison (like beef but so genetically wild I just want to eat them!), bears, lynx, a musk ox and probably a few other things. The centre had a thin, wide-weave scarf (meaning it had large air holes) made of the soft warm fur of the musk ox. It cost over $300. The fur is hard to come by and is highly prized for its warmth and lightness.
I also learnt that reindeer are domesticated caribou. So if it's wild, it's not a reindeer!
The group saw a lot of wild moose thanks to Jahda. When it comes to all things moose, Jahda is the best spotter around (certainly on our tour anyway). When it comes to rhino spotting, I'm your girl (discovered this skill in 2010 in south Africa) but that didn't really come in handy in Alaska.
We got up at two and three am one night with high hopes of seeing the northern lights shimmering across the night sky as as we had read that the electro-magnetic activity was quite strong for a few nights. What we saw however, was what you see in the picture below, as the sun appears for a disproportionate number of hours in the far north over summer and it didn't get dark enough for us to see anything!
Our tour guide and driver, Christina and Crystal respectively, and have made the tour fun. Crystal grew up in Alaska without running water or electricity from the grid. In Alaskan terms, she is called a 'sourdough'. Christina introduced us to a moose drawing game where each person is told to draw a specific part of the moose and then the sketch in passed on. There were some crazy looking moose at the end!
Near the end of our trip when we were in the middle of nowhere, Crystal excitedly pointed at some fungus on some trees. It was the rare chaga mushroom, which I've heard the health gurus go on about. It has great healing qualities. We had a chat as I told her that she's sitting on a gold mine knowing where it is and did she know how popular it's becoming and how much it's often sold for? I also said that if it were only possible, I'd start up a business with her!!
Other fun:
- Panning for gold (got $18 worth between us)
- Watching a dog sled team and learning about how they are more reliable then mechanical snow mobiles because fueling them isn't so hard in the remote wilderness!
- seeing tundra and taiga scenery (we saw 'taiga woods'... but there was no golf that day)
- walking with the possibility of being taken out by a moose, or a bear.
- driving through remote towns where if you're female and looking for a mate - the odds are good but the goods are odd!
- picking wild labrador tea (I had to try some of the wild edibles)
- eating our first real chilli (meat dish). Oh, wow... I'm a fan. No other mince dish of this genre compares...
- ordering take out is so much cheaper than eating in - even though it might be more effort for them for the packaging. You save on taxes and tips that way. Americans certainly have different ways of doing things.
- touching different luxurious animal furs. Faux fur really doesn't cut it. This may be controversial, but I think that if the animals are not being over hunted, or cruelly killed just for their fur, the selling of their fur should make a come back. It's nature's way of keeping us warm in cosy comfort. Shame it's so expensive!
Oh, we also passed a Walmart which sells the most duct tape in the world. Random fact...
That's all from Alaska for now. We are leaving the remote wild places and heading to Washington and the Big Apple!
Amanda
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