North to Alaska - Kenai Fjords

Friday morning, we left Anchorage and drove down the Seward Highway, “Highway 1,” (they joke about the fact there are only two highways in Alaska, Highway 1 and Highway 2) to Seward, where Suzette and Janice had procured tickets for all of us to go on a Kenai Fjords tour. The drive down was so beautiful. The mountains are covered with aspen, pine, birch and are lush and green. There was still a lot of snow and many lakes and rivers. It was a beautiful drive.

Cory & Britt ~ Welcome to Seward

We arrived in Seward a little early, so we all split up and went to see some of the souvenir shops. At 11:00, we departed onboard the Tenaina cruise ship.

Machko, Aunt Janice, Aunt Sue, Larry & Venna on board the Tanaina

Mom, Dad, Janice, Sue, Judy and her mother-in-law, Machko procured a table and seating on the second floor inside the ship, but Brittany and I went outside to the bow of the ship.  Tiffany, Brett, Ray and Cory joined us there and we had a great view!

Ray & Sandy ~ the Tanaina

We first saw an otter floating on his back there in Resurrection Bay and he looked so content, just floating on the water, watching us as we watched him.

Next we saw a Golden Eagle, then a mountain goat and her newborn kid, grazing on a nearly vertical rock face. The guide commented that they were actually quite safe there, especially because the bears would not venture on a cliff that steep.

We went into a bay, where we saw some amazing caves and arches in the cliffs as well as a few seals.

They took us to Fox Island, where we had lunch of salmon and prime rib.

Two Orcas

Back on board we headed over to a bay, where we saw two pods of orca whale. We learned that a pod of orca families are headed by a grandmother, and three to four generations of the family swim and stay together. Each pod has their own unique set of calls. The captain of the ship put a microphone down into the water and we could actually here them communicating with each other. We also saw a humpback whale on this trip.

Dall's Porpoise racing the Tataina

On our way back, several Dall’s porpoises started racing back and forth under the bow of the ship. It was delightful to watch them and they were so fast! They apparently swim almost as fast as the orca, which swims at 30 mph. On the way back to Seward, we saw a couple of brown bear on the mountainside. What a lovely day it was! The weather was cool, and a little cloudy, but it wasn’t cold. It was lovely to be out in the wind out on deck.

The J's delightful Kenai River Shack

After the cruise, we drove up to Soldotna, where Uncle Stowell and his family have a cabin right on the Kenai River, called the “J’s Kenai River Shack.” The cabin is a delightful array of rooms, porches, trailers all added to a central living area. Uncle Stowell was there to greet us and it was so good to see him. It has been forty years since I have seen him.

Uncle Stowell with two of his beautiful grandaughters, Jessica and Tori

Jim had told us he was going to treat us to some stuffed salmon that night. And it was a treat!

 

Sue, Tiffany, Janice, Mom, Danny ~ enjoying Chef Jim's stuffed Kenai salmon

You can literally fish off the porch.

Ray and what everyone up north calls a "minnow"

They have a potbelly cast iron stove there on the deck and we spent many hours sitting around its warmth, visiting and just enjoying the magnificent view.

Larry, Venna, Stowell & Sue visiting on the porch