The Moosiest Moose
Today began EARLY. Les and Pat had train tickets from Anchorage to Seward, and they needed to be at the station around 5:45am. There were 2 things that made it easier - 1) We are an hour earlier than CA here, and 2) the sun had been up for a few hours already. Anchorage was very quiet at that time of the day, and we were only a few minutes from the depot. When I dropped them off, I did allow a moment of envy to pass through my mind - after commuting via train to San Jose, I’ve developed a love for that mode of travel. You can see landscapes you wouldn’t get to see otherwise, because the train isn’t tied to highways - you can really go through the middle of nowhere.
I got back to the hotel, and Emma and Carrie were fast asleep, and had sprawled out over the king size bed, so I took my iPad over to Les and Pat’s now-vacant room and relaxed. I’m not usually one to get back in bed after I am up, so I was able to crank the temperature in their room to a cool level that would not have been comfortable for Emma and Carrie.
After we were all up and dressed, we headed out for the day’s activities. We started off at a store to pick up some necessary items for our road trip. Our main destination on the way to Seward was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We did continue in our normal pattern of stopping whenever there was something beautiful or interesting to see or photograph - or both.
At the center, there were lots of different Alaskan wildlife, and we got some great pictures. Toward the end of our visit, we saw a bear up in the top of a tree. Carrie was convinced it was fake, and focused on some wolves nearby to photograph them. Emma and I saw the bear moving, proving it was, in fact, not a better-than-Disney animatronic. Carrie didn’t believe it and, by the time she looked back at the cub, it was back in it’s original orientation. Emma and I started laughing, because it was clear that it was playing mind games with us, staying totally frozen when Carrie was looking at it, like a weeping angel.
We continued our drive, stopping for beautiful vistas, and saw a cluster of cars stopped on the side of the road. Carrie yelled “STOP, THAT MEANS MOOSE.” Sure enough there was a smaller moose right off of the side of the road. Carrie got some good pictures, though she might have been a bit too close, as they are definitely unpredictable.
We joined up with Les and Pat in Seward, and drove around to find lunch. Our lovely booking.com rental (Bear’s Den B&B) was available, and we unloaded our stuff, then walked the few minutes to the main part of Seward to find sustenance. We found a nice little place, and enjoyed lunch together.
We are back at the house, relaxing, showering, and typing.
