DAY 10 – June 27
Anchorage to Seward
We took the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward, seeing great scenery along the way. We also saw Dall sheep, a moose with two calves, and about a dozen bald eagles on the mud flats near Bird Creek. The kids enjoyed the ride, having the freedom to move around from our seats to the dome car, open vestibule, snack car, and gift shop.
In Seward, we dropped off our luggage at Trailhead Lodging and walked a few blocks for a pleasant lunch at Yoly's Bistro. We shopped a bit, and the kids played at the waterside playground until time to check in to our room. We happened to walk past a NPS office; it appeared to be administrative offices rather than a public information center, but I stepped in to see if they had the Junior Ranger booklets for Kenai Fjords. They did, and the ranger we spoke with pointed out some drawings she had contributed to the books.
We had reservations for the 3:30 Ididaride tour, but the shuttle was late picking us up at the Sealife Center. We had talked with the shuttle driver when we got off the train to confirm our pickup time. We made a call to straighten things out, and they held the start of the tour until we arrived.
Our Ididaride tour was led by a young musher named Braxton. After a brief intro, we rode a wheeled cart for a couple of miles through the woods, which was a lot of fun. Then we met some puppies, watched a video, saw an equipment demo, and asked questions. We received a photo of our sled ride, and we each received a doggie booty that had been used in the Iditarod.
Returning from the Seavey's place, we asked the shuttle driver to drop us off at Safeway. We picked up some kid-friendly food and snacks to take kayaking, to supplement what the outfitter would be providing, then walked to the Bakery at the Harbor for dinner. We made it back to our room just in time for our evening meeting at Kayak Adventures Worldwide.
We met with Justine, our kayaking guide, to review trip plans and help us prepare our equipment. We also met Rob, another customer who would be joining our trip. This was supposed to be a custom trip just for our family, but after meeting Rob we were glad to have him along.
Our room at Trailside Lodging was comfortable and quiet. The place didn't look like much from the outside – our taxi driver said it used to be a liquor store – but the inside was newly remodeled and nicely furnished (although it was lacking in storage spaces).
Next: Day 11, Seward to Aialik Bay
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