Day 16-17: Seward, Alaska

Seward (area) is our next location. Our RV spot was Trail River Campground which had NO hookups. We knew this going in, but thought it had a dump/portable water on site. We were wrong. Thank goodness for Jeff's planning with the water and sewer tanks! Totally saved us! His earlier prep with the solar panels and inverter have kept us going on all the other ways --battery, washer/dryer, microwave--all the conveniences we're used to! 

The best 3 minutes of the day was this "easy set-up tent" that somehow got started inside out. 

We got all set up at our campsite and decided to go check out Seward--a quick 30 mile trip away. Today was our tourist day and we had fun searching for magnets, stickers, and anything else touristy! (The one thing I didn't buy--but should have--was a carved wooden bear with a Santa hat! I'm a sucker for Christmas goodies!!) We ended our day with some great Thai food for dinner at Woody's. Yummy!

Seward is the Mural Capital of Alaska with 12 official murals, but there were tons more than that around town.

Temperature change chart for 120 years.

Auper powerful waterfall on the edge of town. 

The next day proved to be a challenge. We couldn't get enough Internet service at our campsite for Jeff to work (and we're in this spot for 5 nights so we needed something to work!). After a fruitless search for another park, we decided to drive around our campground and found a spot with fewer tree coverage that we pray will work out! 

We went back towards Seward the next day so we could hike to Exit Glacier. While it was a decent hike with a neat outwash area, it wasn't what we were hoping for. If we'd wanted to hike 8+ miles we could have done the Harding Icefield, but (1) no way were we prepared for that and (2) the trail was closed due to snow/avalanche. The trail we took got us as close to the glacier as we could go---which was not close enough! 

The receding of the glacier is tremendous. Jeff has said the entire trip that he just walked up to one when he came in 2005. He found the picture and thinks maybe it was this one. All throughout the trail you saw signs with years on them. They measured where the glaciers were at certain points. The very first picture we could take was at the "2005" mark (where Jeffay have stood!!).

Thats a LOT of receding in 20 years!

Watwr temps here vs Yellowstone! Over 100° different!!!

We drove a little further after the hike and got a great show by a sea otter! 

Random side notes: I totally see now why ravens are used in scary movies/books. Their cries sound like a scared, lost child and are SO freaky! Plus they are LARGE! We kept calling them fat crows til we realized they weren't crows!! For reference, one bird's head goes to the bench at this picnic table.

Another note: sometimes the fog / clouds on the mountains is creepy and sometimes it's beautiful. Just depends on your mood!