Seward Is A Weird Beach Town
On our last day in Alaska, we slept untill noon. Why does that not matter? It does not get dark until ????? I can't harp on it enough. This place is a dream come true for late sleepers. We got a whole day of sight seeing in when starting at 3pm!!!
Tony decided to drive us down from Anchorage to Seward. We utilized AK-1. What an amazing drive. I don't think I have been on a better drive in my entire life. I really can't put into words the sights. Were talking on par with Switzerland here. When leaving Anchorage, AK-1 follows the Gulf of Alaska south. The mountians end basically at the start of the gulf. Many still have snow top caps, and a few have glaciers. After about 30 miles, the AK-1 enters the Chugach National Forest. We stopped right at the beginning to take some photos of the gulf and the mountians. It was cool that the road had pulloffs for sight seeing. After another 20 or so miles, you wind around the eastern most point of the gulf and head due south. The interior of the forest is dotted with so many mountians ands lakes. We couldn't believe our eyes! All I did for the entire trip was stare out the window. The entire trip to Seward is about 130 miles so, we had about two hours of stare time. It was fantastic.
We pulled into Seward around 8pm. It looks and feels like a small beach town. The streets are lined with restuarants and bars. It is right on the water, but you could not swim. Of course, the water is too cold. We went down to the end of the town. It looks out over Resurrection Bay. From this point, the Alaska highway begins. Mile Marker One. It travels north all the way to Nome. We took a few photos, and jumped back in the car. We decided not to eat at a local restuarant but grab subway. I really didn't like the town, but I was ready for the drive back. Tony let me take the wheel.
It was really cool on the way back to Anchorage. By this time, the sun was starting to set. We could see it pouring through the mountians and shimmering on the lakes. I wish I had my sun glasses, but I borrowed Jill's J.LO shades. HA. Once we were back a long the Gulf of Alaska, I was thinking to myself. One of these turns, it is going to be staring right back at us and then there it was - The Sun. It was about 30 minutes from dropping below the horizon. I quickly pulled off at a weight station. We jumped out of the car, and walked down to the rocky shores of the gulf. It was one of the prettiest sights I have ever seen. The sun was setting over the Gulf of Alaska and the mountians. Plus, there were railroad tracks between the shore and the road. It was so cool. I took over 30 pictures in a 30 minute span. I was really glad we made the drive at this time of night, it was 11:30pm. It was great to see the sunset at that hour.
We soon drove back into Anchorage. After gazing at the sun, we only had 25 miles left on AK-1. We decided to drink a few beers. It was a good thing Boston's was still open. It was a nice way to close down the Anchorage experience. Tony, Dave, and I just sat around and talk about everything under the sun. Tony asked us some questions about the Internet, we talked about his deployment, living in Alaska, and things coming up for us the rest of the summer. It was a good time. Back at the house, I feel asleep for the last time in the twilight.
The next day, we woke up, packed up our things, showered, and Tony took us to the airport. It was a sad moment. I really didn't want to leave Anchorage. It is such a striking place, and I know Tony didn't want us to leave. In hindsight, we should have stayed a few more days. I will have to go back and say hi before he moves to a new place in the world. I will say this, Tony and Jill went above and beyond what I expected of hosts. They treated us like royalty, and for that I am grateful. I already miss them both, and hope they are doing well. I guess that is life, you can't stay in one place for ever. On to Canada...
