Alaska, June 22, 2025, Chugga, chugga, choo, choo

 Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friend's house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

If you squint and look way in the back,
you will see the domed, double-decker car we were on.

One of the top things on Ward's list of what he wanted to do was to ride the Alaska Railroad. Today, his wish came true when we rode the train from Anchorage to Seward. Bo took us to the train station to catch our 6:45 am train. Yesterday, I referred to this early time as 0-dark-30. That was silly because this time of year in Anchorage, there is no darkness. Only dusk. And it was certainly light when we got up at 5:30 am.

We opted for a car with a glass top, so we had great views in most directions. While this train was not advertised as a tourist train, it was. During the 4 1/2-hour trip, we heard commentary about the areas we were riding through, and the train slowed down when there were animal sightings.  We saw dall sheep, eagles, and a bear on the tracks. Actually, the bear went over the hillside before I caught a glimpse of it. But it was there. We went to the lower level for breakfast and got a different perspective on what we were seeing. I enjoyed the ride, but Ward was thrilled. He's always been fascinated with trains. 

We went downstairs in our train car for breakfast.
Guess who had sausage gravy and biscuits again?

The scenery was beautiful along the way as we rode through the Chugach Mountains.

Part of the route was along the Kenai Lake.

It was busy when we got off the train because there were several buses of people there from cruise ships. However, most of them did not stay in Seward. They went further north. 

Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula, started as a Russian trading post (the first non-native settlement). It has a population of about 2000, but has large influxes of people during the summer, with visitors from cruise ships and the train. The town was essentially destroyed by the 1964 9.2 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, but rebuilt, and today it is an important fishing port.

We saw lots of fishing and tourist boats in the harbor at Seward.

Monument commemorating the founding of Seward in 1903. Seward was proposed as the ocean terminus of the Alaska Railroad to the interior. 

Besides taking a train ride to Seward, our goal was to visit the Alaska Sea Life Center. The center is an aquarium and a marine life rehabilitation center. While we enjoyed all of the animals we saw, the puffins were the most fun to watch. They would dive underwater and swim gracefully, almost like we see birds in the air.

We didn't get many pictures inside the Sea Life center,
But we did get one of a puffin (upper right). 

After the center, we wandered around town and were surprised that several restaurants were closed. Since it was tourist season, that's not what we expected. However, we did not go hungry because we found a place for lunch.

Dog sleds were carrying things from ships in Seward to Nome
 before the famous 1925 medicine run.

We spent the afternoon walking around town, exploring a riverfront park and the Kenai National Park Visitor's Center until it was time to catch the bus home. The bus took about half the time of the train. Part of the ride followed the same path as the train, but the other part was through new territory. We had local commentary from the driver for the entire ride, which made it interesting. BTW, the train seats were a lot more comfortable than the bus seats. But we only paid half as much for the bus seats, so I guess that's okay. :)

We had a seat in the front of the bus, so we could see out the front as well as a side window.

Bo picked us up at the bus station after a long but good day. 

Stay tuned for the next time when I show you a place that we try to visit, wherever we go.