bobanddenisewanderlust

We left around 10 AM and went to see the rest of the sights in Seward. Our first stop was at Lowell Creek waterfall.

From there we went to the Library to see the movie about the 1964 earthquake/tsunami. The Library opened at 11, but the museum was closed on Monday. We continued from the west side of Seward to the east side, all of about 5 minutes! We stopped at the Bennie Benson memorial. He was the boy who designed the Alaska flag. His mother died when he was four and his father dumped him in an orphanage, here in Seward, where he entered the contest designing the Alaska flag.

The memorial is next to a lagoon and there were salmon swimming in the lagoon. They jumped, but I was unable to catch the jumping. Notice that several of them have already changed colors, in anticipation of spawning. The salmon stop eating, change colors, loose their body fat, and develop a hump prior to spawning. When this occurs, they are not good to eat.

We found the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center and picked up a walking guide to the town and a mural walking tour. We continued on to Kenai Fjords National Park and Exit Glacier.  This is the glacier from the park road.

Here is the Visitor Center.

Here is the walkway. We had heard that there were horrible flies on the walk to the overlook. We had no flies on the way to the overlook, but they swarmed us on the way back. Bug spray does not bother them at all!

Wayne said that the glacier had receded about 300 ft. since he saw three years ago.  He spoke with the ranger who said that yes, the glacier is receding at about 100 ft. per year.

This is the run-off from the glacier, it is a really fast moving river.

Above the glacier are the Harding Ice Fields, where some of that run off comes from.

We returned to Seward and ate lunch at The Marina restaurant. Next, we went in search of murals. The town has 16 murals on their list, although the gal at the visitor center told us there were a few new ones not yet on the list.

Above # Pony Cove 2006. Below Wildflower Garden 2006.

Below Senior Prom, at the Senior Center, 2010.

Below Kenai Fjords National Park.

Below Apologies to Rockwell Kent. 2012. Rockwell Kent was a local artist.

Below Remembering Exit Glacier. 2007

Below Mountain Marathon, 2000. Each year on the 4th of July there is a mountain marathon, where folks climb and come down a  local mountain. I think the time this year was 45 minutes. On TV one person said if you are not bleeding by the end you are not trying hard enough! It is grueling!

Below The Iditarod Trail 2002. The Iditarod had its start in Seward, mile 0. The original Iditarod started in Seward as the trail to take supplies from Resurrection Bay, which never freezes, to Nome. The current Iditarod is a ceremonial race. 

This is the memorial at the start of the original Iditarod.

Below Tribute to Commercial Fishing, 2003.

Below Postcards from the Past, 2002.

Finally, here is the memorial to the founders of the town.

We returned to the motor home and sat out reading and watching the boats, birds, glaciers, and mountains. Diane came over and we talked for awhile.

We had decided to have salmon for dinner. The other night, when we had gone out to dinner, there was a fish cleaning place which was selling some very nice fresh salmon. So we decided to go buy some fresh salmon for $15.95/lb.. Diane had met some folks who had bought an old Norwegian ship for the cost of the dock fees. The boat was built in 1938 and had been used. It had been in the water for 5 years and had been semi-sunk with the heavy snow. It is in pretty bad shape, but they were fixing it up and having a party tonight. She was going downtown to join them, so we offered her a ride downtown. The folks are trying to get the boat in shape to sail it, in a flotilla, next May to Hawaii. The flotilla goes each May from Seward to Hawaii. We are skeptical! 

There was no fresh salmon, but we bought some frozen( 12.95/lb.) and put it into the freezer. We returned, ate dinner, and sat out until the sun went behind the mountains and the temp. dropped. The wind was less today and had shifted from the north to the south. It was interesting to see the white caps on the water going a different direction.

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