Alaska Day 15

These last two weeks have flown by way too quickly. So much anticipation and preparation and the trip draws to an end in the blink on an eye. I had a hard time falling asleep last night. It’s been so long since I slept in a bed I couldn’t get comfortable. When I woke up in the middle of the night I felt like I had been beaten up. My whole body hurt. I suppose I’m getting old and my muscles just get sore more easily than they used to and rafting yesterday was intense. My ankle is also very swollen. Years of injury and over use, I suppose, have taken a toll. All the activity has irritated it, but I feel only a little pain. Sleeping in a bed has made me miss my cats more, especially Dante because he wasn’t here to cuddle with me as he does most nights at home.

Ugh! Another rainy icky gray day. I am disappointed because we are taking a boat tour of the fjords today. With the clouds and fog we won’t be able to see much of anything. Also, the poor weather will make for choppier seas and I am extremely prone to motion sickness. It doesn’t take much for me to feel ill. The boat departs from Seward so we have to return to the city packed with tourists. It hopefully won’t be too bad since we need to check in early at 7:30.

We paid a little more for the perks pass on this boat tour. With the pass we got priority seating and unlimited drinks. G3 has been looking forward to a day of “free” soda this whole trip. In order to minimize my guaranteed sea sickness, I took Dramamine, which means I am now struggling to keep my eyes open. I am afraid I will lose the battle and need to take a nap.

In 1964, on Good Friday, the worst earthquake on record in North America struck Alaska. It measured 9.2 on the Richter scale and triggered three tsunamis each  thirty feet in height. The earthquake destroyed the Seward waterfront and leveled Valdez. Eventually, Valdez was rebuilt in a slightly different location. The Seward waterfront was not rebuilt because another earthquake will only destroy it again.

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I hate boats! I hate being on boats. Yet,

I continuously find myself voluntarily on them. If someone is going to be gripping the rail, leaning over the side, and throwing up, you can bet it will be me. The Dramamine did not work. It made me so tired, my eyes so heavy, they would not stay open until my stomach completely revolted and I found myself sprinting to the side of the boat. I even missed the puffins. I was bent over the railing, expelling my breakfast, as the captain called everyone’s attention to the puffins—the one animal I really wanted to see.

The humpback whales were very active today and I had a great deal of pleasure watching them play. We saw several whales breach and a mother and her calf waved their pectoral fins. We watched a pod of whales circle their food and eat. That was pretty awesome to see.

As we approached the Northwestern Glacier, which was massive and vividly blue, harbor seals, hanging out and resting on the ice, greeted us. Large pieces of ice break off from the glacier and crash into the sea, providing floating platforms for seals to sit on. Most of them watched us with a sort of detached curiosity, but others slipped into the see to escape. We had hoped to see the glacier calving—ice breaking free—but it remained relatively quiet and inactive. Still, it was impressive to see.

Steller sea lions hung out in a crowd on a rock. I could never be a sea lion. I need my space. The babies were cute as they wove their way around the adults. We briefly caught sight of two otters. But the boat spooked them and they scampered off before I could get a decent picture. It’s no surprise that otters are terrified of human. They were once hunted to near extinction.

There were plenty of birds. So many birds: cormorants, common murres, and black oystercatcher. And yes, I saw a puffin. Several. (They are so cute) So I am happy. There were even a few bald eagles perched way up on the rock face.

Even though the sky remained cloudy and the fog never lifted, once we got out on the water it stopped raining. I am grateful for that. And while the fog may have deterred from the beauty of the landscape, it did not seem to negatively impact our opportunity to view. And while my nausea never went away, the fresh air and wind on my face made it far more manageable. It also helped that Kati and G3 kept checking on me and bringing me ginger ale or Pepsi—G3 wasn’t the only one to get his money’s worth of free refills.

When the boat docked, we stopped into the gift shop and bought a puffin Christmas ornament. Overall, we have been disappointed with the souvenirs here. Not only have we failed to find items that appeal to us, those we did find tend to be overpriced. This might be the first family trip we have taken where we didn’t buy teeshirts.

It was still relatively early—by Alaska standards—when we got back to the car, so we drove down to Homer to visit Sweetgale Meadworks and Cider House. Our first meadery was enjoyable so we figured we’d try another. Seward is on the eastern side of the Kenai Peninsula. Homer is to the south, but to get there, we had to drive down the western coast of the peninsula. It was roughly a three hour drive—which is not long at all when you are used to long drives while on the road.

Homer—what little we saw en route to the meadery—is in a beautiful location. It is right on the water with snowcapped mountains rising up in the distance. Of course the view is obscured by clouds because once again it is raining. For twenty dollars, we were able to taste every mead, cider, and wine. It was one tasting, consisting of three flights but we shared them. It was mostly mead with one cider (it tasted like carbonated apple juice), and a few sweet berry wines. The strawberry wine reminded me of Dad—strawberry wine will probably always remind me of Dad—since every year when he bought his birthday wine at Osprey, he always got me a couple of bottles of the strawberry wine. Everything—wines and mead—was sweet. I enjoyed them all in small samples but I doubt I could share a whole bottle. I preferred the mead here, but Kati preferred the mead at Arctic Buzz.

Since it is late and raining and no one wants to set up a tent in the rain or pay for a campsite if we can’t have a fire, we are sleeping in the car—again. Sadly, we have only two more sleeps until we have to go back home. (Tomorrow is our last full day here.) We parked in a pullout overlooking the water but really all we can see is fog.