Saturday, August 25, 2012

Friday we left Homer.  On our way to Seward we stopped at the Russian River, Cooper Landing.  We walked down to an area where there were hundreds of red salmon.  The water had a red glow.

                              Red salmon at the Russian River.

 Seward is a beautiful town nestled in the mountains on Resurrection Bay.   In fact it is probably the most beautiful place we have stayed at in Alaska.  We are camping at Seward Military Resort.  It was a former military base that has been turned into a campground with all the luxuries.  Today, Saturday, we drove out to Exit Glacier.  We hiked out to the edge of the glacier. There were warning signs about black and brown bears. We didn't have our bear spray with us.  Others did as well as their bells.

At the top of our hike which was the edge of Exit Glacier.

The hiking trail was marked with signs that gave the year where the glacier had been.  It shows how much the glacier has receded over the years.

We spent some time at the Alaska Sea Life Center.  Gerry is watching the sea lions.

A view of Seward.  Lots of shopping and good eating places.

If you look closely you will see the path that endurance runners ascend each 4th of July.  It is grueling and the fastest time to go up and down is 43 minutes.  A fellow we talked to said the medics wait at the bottom as the runners come down hurt and bloodied.  One runner was never found from this last summer.  Certainly was not on our list of things to do.

A view of the harbor.  Lots of beautiful boats.
Tomorrow we leave for Valdez. Plan to take a cruise among the glaciers.  All is well.  We plan to be in Alaska for 3 days and then will begin our journey to California.  Gerry and Kathy