Kenai Peninsula: Whittier / Seward

We left Anchorage in a roaring downpour early this morning to drive to the weird and wonderful - mostly just weird - port town of Whittier, crossing through North America’s longest land tunnel (you drive on the single one-way track shared with the railroad, so this is a tunnel you don’t really want to see a light at the end of), to get to what isn’t North America’s most anything really, but was once of military strategic use and now where everyone lives in one of two buildings (real estate development is an interesting proposition here, but tourism is big).

Hopped a triple-hulled catamaran tour boat to spend the day on Prince William Sound (of Exxon Valdez fame, though the closest we got to that part of things was still a good 40 miles away). The weather continued noxious but I much prefer that for a day on the water when the purpose is to look at wildlife and glaciers – too much sun makes it tough to see anything. I’ve taken the cruise out of Seward a few times but hadn’t had the chance to do it from Whittier before.

Had a yummy halibut lunch, took an amble straight through the commercial fishing fleet, moving slowly among the boats and nets, and past the nation's largest fish hatchery. No whales today but we saw eagles and otters and fish and birds and one sea lion hanging out at the hatchery (burp), and of course lots of Very Big Pieces of Ice. Spent much time on the deck in driving wind and rain - perfect. Even the intrepid Nana came out for a breath of fresh air.

Viewed literally dozens of tidewater glaciers and spent extra time stopped up-close to Cascade and Surprise Glaciers, hoping to see one of them calve but no luck. Just listening to the ice was incredible. On the cruise back, some Dall porpoises hooked up with us and played and played in our bow wake, leaping up and over and surfing along with us – I’m always delighted at the speed they can generate and the playfulness of their maneuvers.

We got back just in time to run for the 5:00 tunnel instead of waiting for the 6:00, so that saved us some time (well, an hour to be exact) on the drive south, as the clouds finally broke near Seward on lovely Resurrection Bay. The time saved allowed us a long dinner at one of my all-time favorite places, Ray’s Waterfront on the small boat harbor. Incredible fresh halibut, cedar plank salmon…shoot, just the appetizer of roasted garlic and warm gorgonzola on fresh baked sourdough washed down with some nice cabernet – I could have eaten a pile of it (okay, I pretty much did). Just took our time at our table by the window, looking at the splendid variety of boats as night came on.

Back to the room at the cute little Hotel Edgewater right next to the Sea Life Center on the waterfront. Watched a movie until midnight – such decadence – and didn’t even think twice about trying to log onto the computer in the hotel lobby (also would have been difficult to cut the line of senior citizens elbowing to email their grandchildren...er, wait, now I've got a grandchild too! no more grandparent jokes!). Woke up in the night and slipped out for a walk through Waterfront Park in the dark, with just the sounds of the bay and the rain mostly having stopped.

I had just plain forgotten what a great little place this three-time All-America city is and how I've been so charmed by it always. It’s on my top ten list at “Find Your Spot” and suddenly I did feel very much like I'd been too long away from home.