The Last Frontier - Part 9

Once again, we woke up ready for adventure.  Our second day in Seward was spent on a boat.  We took a tour out into the Gulf of Alaska.

The scenery was beautiful.  We saw whales, and a sea otter on our way to Fox Island...

We ate...

Lunch was all-you-can-eat salmon and prime-rib, with sides of king crab and corn on the cob.  While we feasted, the kids were awarded Jr. Ranger badges for completing the Ranger workbooks they were given while we waited for the trip to begin.

We finished the tour and saw puffins, sea lions, and a whole bunch of beautiful scenery...

 

 
And the kids caught a quick nap on boat ride back to shore.
That ended our time in Seward.  We were packed and ready to head back to Nikiski for a bit more fishing.

The Last Frontier - Part 8

When we came down from the trail to Exit Glacier, we stopped to read the sign at the trail head. I want to point out that it mentions that if a brown bear attacks, play dead unless it begins to eat you...then go ahead and fight back.

On our way back from Exit Glacier, we noticed that a number of cars were pulled over near a bridge about a half-mile from town.
We got out of the car and saw a mother brown bear with two cubs. As she strolled along the river, she reached in and pulled out a fish for the cubs to eat. We had an exciting evening which was capped with a trip to the creamery where we learned that Alaskans consume more ice cream per capita than any other state population in the U.S. (we were just trying to make our bear-sighting that much more authentically Alaskan)

The Last Frontier - Part 7

We strolled through town and ate a great meal following our time at the Sea Life Center. They we went for a short drive out of town to Exit Glacier, which is the access point to a GIANT ice field up in the mountains.

We hiked 1.2 miles in and back...

It is so amazing to see these glaciers up close. Part of the fun though, was making the memory of having all hiked it together. I was a great time and we talked and took pictures the whole way.

The Last Fronteir - Part 6

Saturday we drove back across the Kenai Peninsula to Seward. Once again, it was a beautiful drive, but the kids wouldn't have known it, they were *POOPED*. Seward is a quaint little touristy town, which had been major port of Alaska before the great quake of 1964. It reminds me of Newport, OR... just colder.

We visited the Sea Life Center and the kids had a great time.

The highlight for me was Woody, the Sea Lion. He weighs 2,200 lbs (give or take a few), and was highly interactive. He spotted Abby alone by the window and got her attention, then preceded to do tricks for her. When the rest of the patrons figured out what was going on, they completely crowded around her. I was so mesmerized that I didn't hear Lisa telling me to film it. He was great and made a vivid and lasting memory.

To be continued...

The Last Frontier - Part 5

We had a few more days of relaxing and hanging out with Brent and Nichole and their family before heading across the peninsula to Seward.

We spent a little more time fishing and the kids played on the beach in the driftwood forts.  We were given the tour of the town and ate halibut hamburgers at a Kenai mainstay, The Burger Bus.

Friday evening Brent built a campfire down on the beach.  We had all the comforts of home with all the fun of camping out.

The Last Frontier - Part 4

On the clear days, we saw the mountains on the other side of Cook's Inlet.  A beautiful view.

Thursday morning was a scheduled fishing day. I was invited to "come out and play." Start time was 6am. This is my view from the old loading deck, up on the deck. We had nice weather once again and it was a relatively slow day, which meant that a lot of attention was given to our experience.

The crew was ready to roll at 6:00 low tide. (They were too kind in posing for their touristy friend - me)

I am unskilled at the picking of fish from the nets, but I quickly learned that I am highly skilled at pulling rope and nets, so that is where I put my energy.

Ryan's Journal:

Well, today is a new day!  I ate some Cheerios for breakfast.  Then mom took Audra to swim lessons while I was going FISHING!  It was like one of the best days of my life.  It was soooooooooooooo fun. Like we caught some 3 pounders, some 12 pounders. We caught a lot of sockeye salmon, we caught some silvers, we caught some humpies, we caught a jack (little king salmon), we caught some dog fish, we even caught a little sand shark.

Ryan was really intrigued by the sand shark's green eyes, so he let him live and threw him back (go Celtics!)

OK, guess what my job in the boat was.  So Brent, Nichol, and Dad would pull up the net and shake all the fish out, and I would get all the fish and throw them into the sack, but a couple would be alive and try to escape, and they got slime all over me, but I took care of it.

Ryan really got after it in the boat.  He was a fish-pickin' maniac.  Brent commissioned him to make sure all the fish were off the boat floor and into the basket in the back of the boat.  He was unafraid to get under the net and grab whatever fish were there.  He was slimy from head to toe.  He was so fun for us all to work with because he was impressed and amazed with every fish that was pulled into the boat.

Fishers of fish

Lisa took pictures of the process from the bluff.

The kids had fun helping with the fish.

We fished a number of shifts that day and had great fun hanging out with our friends, knowing we had a unique experience and had a chance to contribute. 

We made great memories that day.  With such great weather, a river full of fish, and time together with friends we could not have planned a better day for ourselves.