Down to the seaside

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

SEWARD, ALASKA — Before we left Anchorage this morning, we decided to check out the Alaska Zoo. We had read that it specialized in Arctic and sub-Arctic species such as caribou and polar bear, and many of the inhabitants have been rescued and rehabilitated. My Streets and Trips program on the laptop provided an approximate location, and GPS did the rest as we approached the location noted in the brochure, but the final couple of blocks we’d have to figure out the old-fashioned way — by craning our necks for signs.
There were no signs. At the last moment I spotted the zoo on the left side as we sailed by. When you’re driving a truck that’s 22 feet long, pulling a trailer that’s 32 feet more, you don’t stop on a dime or pull a quick u-turn. So on we drove, with the conversation focusing generally on the importance of fair warning and the like on the one hand, and the explanation that travel brochures don’t produce perfect scale maps with longitudes and latitudes on the other hand. You know, pleasant chat.
After a delightful tour of the neighbouring suburbs, we found ourselves approaching the Alaska Zoo again with a bit more foreknowledge, and managed to turn in to the parking lot. But entering was not the only concern; being sure of an exit was also very much part of the agenda, and this parking lot was not engineered with the idea that big rigs would be turning in and out every day in great numbers. Still, it looked possible, so we decided to address the leaving problem later. On to the zoo!
Our tour was delightful. Built on a much more intimate scale than the Metro Toronto Zoo, the Alaska version meandered through forested pathways with generous enclosures for the animals and cheerfully worded signs with quizzes and illustrations. There were lots of families with excited little kiddies hopping around, which added to the pleasure of our visit. We missed seeing the wolverine and the lynx, but all the other animals were out and about — including a couple of Siberian tigers, studiously presenting their backs to us, and a moose only visible by a large rack of antlers peeking up above the tall grass where he was lounging.
Back in the parking lot, we located an exit route that got us around the many more cars that had arrived after we had, and made our way out of the city, southbound toward Seward.
The Seward Highway is known for its scenic vistas, and we were not disappointed. We never knew there were so many mountains in Alaska, but they are so numerous they make Banff and Jasper seem small and limited! We must have seen five or six glaciers between various peaks, and around every bend was another breathtaking view. We traveled along Turnagain Arm, part of Cook Inlet that encircles the Kenai Peninsula on the west with the Gulf of Alaska on the east. It was our first look at the Pacific Ocean since Scagway, and the sun glittering on the water made it look like a sea of silver, with grey-blue mountains rising high on the opposite side. Beluga whales frequent the Arm, although we didn’t catch sight of their spray out among the waves. There is a distinct tidal bore along the arm as well that brings in waves six feet high when the tide is rising, but our timing was not right for that, at least on this southbound trip. We have to come north along the same route again, so maybe we’ll get a second chance.
The highway was heavily traveled in both directions, but I quietly rejoiced every time I saw an RV outbound, since it meant a better chance of a campsite once we arrived. We hadn’t been able to reserve a spot, so we were pushing our luck a bit. That’s why we were pleased to grab a dry camping opportunity just six miles outside of Seward, where we’re camped for the night.
We should have waited! When we got settled, we drove in to town to look around, and there along the waterfront were rows and rows of RV sites, free of charge for dry campers, or $12 for serviced sites, with a view of the ocean and all the fishing boats! There were lots of people there already, but plenty of empty sites too. It was a good lesson to read the literature closely before arriving.
Seward’s Sealife Center caught our interest, and we stopped to have a look. It was an excellent facility with fish tanks full of beautiful specimens, plus large habitats for seabirds of all kinds with underwater observation areas so you could see puffins and others diving down for fish and gliding below the surface, using their wings like fins! They had another area for sea lions and seals, and a display that explained how salmon change their appearance when they are about to spawn. There was even a tank where you were allowed to touch starfish, sea urchins and anemones "with two fingers".
By this time we were hungry, so we decided to stop at a seafood restaurant for Alaska king crab. It was scrumptious! My first taste, and where better to do that? The chocolate praline fantasy dessert was out of this world, too.
On our last jaunt around the docks, who should we run across but Georgette and Farid, our Swiss friends. The bearings of their rental camper are shot, so we’re going to meet them in the morning at the garage and take them sightseeing with us while they wait for repairs.