LISA & BOB: Alaska, Washington and Oregon Tuesday, Sept 15th

We woke up at 9am, marvelled at the lovely views both down and up, had another delicious breakfast. And we were off! [Note: for a map of this area see the Bird List]. Down back around Turnagain Arm (low tide again, of course) and south into the Kenai Peninsula. There were rolly, textured hills; craggy, glacier-topped mountains, and all in between. At the 'fork' (there's only one real road in this area) we headed east towards Homer. We went along a milky green river for a while - they get that color from glacier water - and saw the lodge we'd be staying at tonight. We passed a huge female moose before Solodvia, then headed north along the coast to Kenai. It was pretty clear, so we had a great view of the 'ring of fire' volcanoes across the inlet. The towns were small and laid back down here. We then turned around to head across the peninsula west, to Seward.

More lovely scenery, which got higher and more mountainy as we went. At the turnoff for Exit Glacier, we stopped and saw a bunch of salmon in a stream, being watched by a bald eagle. The road turned into a dirt road along a drying river, and eventually we hit the ranger station. Exit Glacier was amazing looking! It's coming down from the Harding ice field, one of the largest in the world, and is simply huge. Even more amazing is that only 100 years ago it used to be much bigger. They had the years marked out, where the glacier was in 1960, etc.

Exit Glacier: see the tiny people in front?

Exit Glacier - hiking in

We hiked up to the glacier and were able to stand on it. It was very, very cold, and had a deep blue tint. It was neat how shapes were carved in it by the melting process. We hiked out and headed into Seward proper, but unfortunately it was now 6:05 so the final boats had all left and the aquarium was closing. Ah well, Bob was feeling under the weather at this point. We ambled back to our lodge, where we had a bungalow of our own with a wood stove and separate living room. It was run by Princess, the cruise people. Normally I hate cruises, because they force you to go Here at This Moment, and I like to explore. However, their owning the lodge meant I knew it would be in great shape, which it was. We had dinner overlooking the river and mountains, then relaxed by a warm fire and fell asleep.

Next comes Wednesday
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