Ok so I'm finally getting these last entries up. Well my last days in Alaska were crazy as was the whole summer. I caught the train on Tuesday and got to Anchorage 8 hours later. The train ride was great, I couldn't keep in the tears though, I defiantly cried a bit about leaving Denali. It didn't last long though, feeling the wind in my hair on the train always calms me. The ride was awesome, I treated myself to lunch and dinner on the train but mostly I stayed on the balcony and took pictures.
After getting to Anchorage I made my way to the hostel and checked it for the night. I had planned on renting a car the next day and driving to Seward but that didn't end up working out. It was for the best actually, I spent the next day in Anchorage wandering around, mailing things, re-packing and doing last minute souvenir shopping. The next day I caught the Park Connection Bus to Seward at 7am and enjoyed a beautiful ride down the Seward Highway. We got really lucky and saw the Bore Tide which is a wave that occurs once every 12 hours in the Turnigan Arm. It's a wave that is created by the outgoing tide going under the incoming tide. Our bus driver pulled over and let us listen to the wave go by. It was amazing how loud it was! It was only about 6 feet high but it sounded like a freight train. It was overcast and forecasted to rain in Seward so I was a bit apprehensive about what my kayaking trip would be like. Fortunately though the clouds broke up and I had sunshine in Seward!
I got to Miller's Landing where I was taking my guided kayak tour. The guides told us that this was the nicest day they'd seen in a week. We headed out in the water taxi to Kayakers Cove. We kayaked for 5 hours in and out of different coves to where we met the Water Taxi again. Kayaking in Seward was the one thing I promised myself I would do this summer and I finally did it! We had a great time, we saw huge jelly fish, seastars, urchins, Comerants, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, and lots of spawning salmon. The one thing I really wanted to see was a close up sea otter, I didn't get to see that but the day was so gorgeous and the water so calm I can not complain.
At the end of the trip I could barely paddle anymore, my arms were so tired and my back was sore. I think it took twice as long to cover the same distance at the end. We had a great group though, there was a couple from Hawaii on vacation and then a female pilot on her vacation too. Our guide was very knowledgeable and eager to show us neat places. He took us up into alot of coves and back into streams were you could literally reach down and grab a salmon (seriously a guy next to us did it!). The neatest part was how many Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles we saw. We were literally 5 feet from a Golden Eagle, he was just hanging out on a branch over the water checking us out.
After the kayaking trip I got back on the Park Connection Bus back to Anchorage. I was exhausted and just spent a lot of time watching the scenery go back. I got to see a group of Beluga whales too! They were something else, they are really white and when you see them they are hard to miss. The bus dropped me off at the airport and I proceeded to equal out the weights in my two bags and get checked in for my flight. My sinuses started misbehaving so I took some benadryl and proceed to sleep the entire flight to Seattle. I also slept most of the flight to Burbank as well which makes for the best way to fly!
Being back in civilization was very strange and overwhelming. I was exhausted and had a full blown sinus infection so sleep was the main thing on my mind. The next day was my cousin Pam's wedding, which was a nice distraction. It was great to see all my family and celebrate with them. I missed Alaska and my friends though. After the weekend I headed up to Ukiah with Mom and Dad, back to the real world I guess.
Make sure to check out the photos from Seward!
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