Our first plane departed around 11:30am, and we had a long layover in Minneapolis. On our flight to Anchorage, we sat next to a man who works at the oil field in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (very far north, I had to look up where it is). It was fascinating to hear about his life. I specifically picked seats on the right side of the plane, so we could have a good view of the mountains and scenery flying into Anchorage. Unfortunately, it was cloudy most of the trip, so we weren't able to see much. The last 20 minutes before we landed, gorgeous snow covered mountains finally came into view.
We arrived in Anchorage around 8:30pm local time (4 hours behind EST). It was still bright and sunny when we grabbed our rental car and made our way to the Millennium Alaska Hotel Anchorage. I didn't take any pictures of the hotel, but it was a rustic, lodge style place with stuffed critters adorning a large entryway. Our actual room was quite nice, though I was too excited to sleep very well.
The next morning, we left Anchorage to head south along the Seward Highway. Our first stop was the Walmart in Anchorage, to load up on snacks (and bear spray because I'm paranoid), then we were off!
I have to say, this was one of my favorite days, simply because we had beautiful weather and the drive was gorgeous. The combination of ocean, mountains, and lush forests was breathtaking.
Just south of Anchorage is a popular birding spot called Potter Marsh. There is a nice boardwalk with viewing areas of the marsh and forest. We saw several birds and two moose hiding in the grass.
Boardwalk at Potter Marsh
Birding at Potter Marsh
Two moose hiding in the tall grass
Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern chick
Arctic Terns about to feed one of their chicks
Every couple of miles, there is a turnoff on the Seward Highway where you can stop for photos. One turnoff called Beluga Point is known for its Beluga whale sightings under the right tide conditions. Unfortunately we didn't see any Belugas while we were there, but we did see Dall Sheep high up in the cliffs behind us. Dall Sheep are similar to Mountain Goats, but they have larger horns that may curl into full circles, kind of like Bighorn Sheep.
At Beluga Point, the water is very high in this photo
We decided to take a slight detour off the Seward Highway to visit the Portage Glacier area. We saw several glaciers from the parking lot of the visitor center, then decided to take a short hike to the Byron Glacier. There were lots of mosquitoes on the hike, but it was a nice view of the glacier, and we got to walk through some snow.
Byron Glacier behind us
As we were leaving the parking lot for the Byron Glacier, Jared suddenly braked and yelled "Look at the road!" I was digging through a bag and just had time to glance up and see what we are 95% sure was a lynx cross the road in front of us. We didn't get a good look at it, but it definitely appeared to be catlike (so not a coyote). There's really not much else that it could be. Considering how rare it is to see a lynx, we were very lucky, I'm just disappointed we didn't get a photo!
Next, we decided to stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. I had read many great reviews about it on Trip Advisor, and we had a 2 for 1 coupon. Maybe my expectations were too high, but we were disappointed. It was much smaller than I had pictured, and not many animals were out while we were there. I can see how it would be fun for kids, but for folks like us who see a bunch of animals on our own, it wasn't really worth it. We did see our first brown bears of the trip, though (safely behind a fence).
Two brown bears at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
After that stop, we continued south down the highway to Seward, making several more stops along the way for birds and scenery.
Beautiful wildflowers
Townsend's Warbler
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-necked Grebe
Trumpeter Swans with chicks hiding in the grass
I was pretty tired by the end of the day, and we made it to our cabin around dinner time. We stayed just north of Seward in a nice little complex called Alaska Creekside Cabins. The owner described it as "upscale camping". Our cabin was lovely and spacious, and there was a shared bathroom and shower rooms for the cabins on the property.
We stayed in the "Spring" cabin
That evening, we had delicious burgers at a local restaurant and prepared for our early morning boat trip the next day.
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