All Aboard! South To Seward

8-26-2012

6:45am. The Alaska Railroad pulls out of the Anchorage station. We are relaxing in our seats with a cup of coffee, ready for the city to disappear. The conductor quickly announces that breakfast would be available soon. We eagerly head to the dining car, super hungry from not having dinner the night before. Andrew wanted everything and I didn't see anything immediately that struck my fancy. We ended up both deciding to try the breakfast tacos with reindeer sausage. Okay, I know, I didn't like it two days prior, but I didn't see any other options. Reindeer sausage was clearly made for breakfast tacos. OMG! Amazing!
The views accompanying our breakfast that cold, drizzly morning were indescribable. Glaciers, mountains, rivers, streams. We even saw a family of bald eagles in a tree right by the tracks. The four hour train ride took us through tunnels, past ruins from the 1964 earthquake* (see note below), around crazy turns, and even met up with another train traveling the opposite direction.

We spent some time in the domed viewing car, where we met the conductor. Andrew, of course, asked him a zillion questions. I, on the other hand, just enjoyed watching him answer... what a hunk he was. If Andrew could swoon over a park ranger, then I could admire a train conductor, right? When Andrew ran out of questions, we headed back to our seats. On the way we discovered a spot between cars where the open air was deathly cold, rain was coming in, and there was a crowd. Didn't take long to discover why everyone was clamoring for a spot, this was certainly the best, if not only, place to take pictures from the moving train. Andrew, being the intelligent one, stayed with me there for about 5 minutes admiring the view over the other idiots heads. I, being obviously insane and determined to have a somewhat decent photo or two from this ride, stayed until my fingers were too numb to operate my shutter. I lost track of time. It was cold and wet and fantastic. If ever you get a chance to be on a train in Alaska, don't pass it up. I think it is a requirement when visiting anyway. I'm sure I read that somewhere.
At 11am, we arrive in Seward. Stepping off the train, the rain had gotten a little worse, but we were set on checking out the town a little bit before getting on our cruise ship. We boarded a free shuttle to take us more into the town, and could actually see our boat docked. It was huge. Seward is adorable. Cute little shops of various types line the 3-4 blocks that make up the center of the town, or at least the tourist part anyway. At the far end from the train station is The Alaska Sea Life Center which is certainly a must see with kids. We passed on it this trip, but walked around outside instead. We ended up in a bookstore looking for some new reading material to take home for the munchkins. The cashier, and owner, was very friendly and engaged Andrew in conversation immediately. Big mistake. He went directly into all kinds of queries about living in Alaska, the weather, the jobs, the prices, the people. I was ready to check out the store across the street and finally convinced him that we should go. This store spoke to me ( as seen in photo ) and upon entering I saw why. This was where I could buy my ulu. I purchased one for me and one for my parents, cause after all, who doesn't need a really sharp u-shaped cutting utensil?

We were hungry now and it was time to get on the ship. After a quick shuttle ride around town again, we arrived at the dock. Our suitcases had been automatically transferred for us, so after signing in, getting our room keys, and being strip searched (not really), we boarded Holland America's MS Zaandam for a week of being served. We dumped our purchases in our stateroom and went up to the Lido deck for some lunch. We ate our yummies and looked out over Seward's harbor. It was still cold out, but we walked the deck enough for me to take some shots of the boats around us and admire the mountains on the other side. Since the ship wouldn't be leaving port for another 4 hours or so, we took a brief nap before exploring all the Zaandam had to offer. Rested, we arranged ourselves at a dinner table near a window to watch the departure. As the boat pulled away from the Kenai Peninsula, I knew deep down that I'd be back soon... to stay.

*Note: On Good Friday, March 27, 1964, a 9.2 earthquake shook Alaska. It was the most powerful recorded quake in US and North America and the 2nd most powerful ever measured by seismograph. Across south central AK, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the quake caused about 143 deaths.*