Monday, June 21

We by passed our breakfast at the bed and breakfast and loaded the bus early to head to Seward. We stopped on the road to eat at Sal's Diner in Soldotma. The diner is famous for their cinnamon rolls and I thought I should get the item that made them famous. It was good, but they must have become known before Cinnabons at the malls became so popular.


Sign at Sal's	Theme of Restaurant	Cinnamon Roll

Kenai Fjords Half-Day Wildlife Cruise

After arriving in Seward. we took half-day cruise 55 miles roundtrip into the world of wildlife in Resurrection Bay. We got a close-up of Alaska's wildlife, The ship traveled close to massive bird rookeries and sea lion colonies and stopped along the route when we encountered whales or sea otters. During the cruise we got with in 1/4 mile of a glacier and felt the cold air coming off the ice age glacier.

The tour was provided by Major Marine Tours of Seward. In addition to the great wildlife we saw, there was a delicious meal including, Alaska salmon, prime rib, rice pilaf, green salad, hot sourdough bread and coffee or tea. Dessert bar included cheesecake, carrot cake, brownies and fresh fruit.

I was much more interested in the ocean wildlife than the food. Just click on the thumbnails below to see a larger picture. All of pictures in next set were taken Kenai Fjords Wildlife Cruise.


Our Boat	Whale	Alaska Flag	Sea Otter	Sea Lions


My Sweetie	Guess who	Nice View	Another View	Bear Glacier

The following pictures were taken of Holgate Glacier as we approached the glacier and got closer to it.

After checking into the Edgewater Hotel, wee took a short trip out to Exit Glacier. Exit Glacier is the only part of Kenai Fjords National Park that is accessible by road. The turn off to Exit Glacier is at mile 3 of the Seward Highway. The 8.6 mile Exit Glacier Road is paved. An interesting thing we learned is the sign post along the way that shows the position the glacier was in during that year. While riding up the 8 mile road, we learned the glacier covered the entire road during the Revolutionary War. The glacier is constantly receding and as the glacier "calves", the viewing area will have to be moved further toward the glacier.

The next few pictures are of the Exit Glacier and surrounding area. Again, click on thumbnail for larger picture.

Monday night was spent at the Edgewater Hotel. This was a relatively new hotel, but had no air conditioning. We experienced an unusually warm period while we were in Alaska and in areas where the temperature is normally in the high 50's and mid 60's, we experienced mid 70's.

The picture on the left is the outside view of the hotel and the picture on the right shows the inside balconies.

Every Fourth of July, Seward, Alaska hosts a 3.5 mile race up and down Mt. Marathon (3,022'). The record is something like 43 minutes and 26 seconds. While waiting on the plane in Anchorage, we met a youth group from Michigan that were visiting Alaska on a mission trip. The group climbed the mountain in about 2 hours. I thought this was good with no training.