Seward, AK

With our tour cancelled today, we decided to make it a laidback kind of day, which honestly was quite nice. We still managed to pack in plenty (surprise!) Mike and Marsha had a delicious breakfast spread for us – pancakes, potato casserole, omelets, fresh fruit, freshly blended smoothies, coffee and orange juice.

Once we are all ready to go, we go to the Alaska SeaLife Center which is only two blocks from the B&B to see when we may be able to do a Behind the Scenes or hopefully a Mammal Encounter. By this time it was around 10:15. The Mammal Encounter wasn’t available but the Behind-the-Scenes Tour was available for 3:00 PM so we bought our tickets (plus got 50% off with our coupon book) and headed to the harbor area.

Larry, Claire and LJ all found rain jackets at a store there and a few other things, then we picked up our fishing licenses – a 3-day ($35) for me for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (plus a 3 day King Stamp, $25) and a 7-day for LJ and Larry since they have a fishing trip scheduled for tomorrow. After another store or two we leave to go back downtown for more shopping and lunch.

We visit a few stores and then decide to eat a late lunch. LJ asks for recommendations from one of the stores and we end up going to Thorn’s, which is a 70’s/80’s décor bar renowned for its collection of Jack Daniels bottles, lining all of the walls of the bar behind plexi-glass with a film of cigarette smoke from over the years. It’s a very cool place; some of the tables have leather loveseat like seating on rollers. I had an absolutely fabulous chicken/bacon/ranch sandwich, LJ a burger, Larry a Rueben and Claire a halibut sandwich. LJ and Larry both got onion rings and the portions were at least three times what you would normally expect to receive. It was a good call with lots of local flavor, which I always enjoy!

A few more shops and it was time to go to the Alaska SeaLife Center. This public aquarium has been open since 1998 and was initially founded with monies from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Our tour was 60 minutes and our guide was an intern from the State University of New York (SUNY) Syracuse. We toured several different areas including the rehabilitation area, mammal area, labs and food preparation areas.

The Center actually does rescues of birds and mammals all over the Alaska coastline, with seals being the animal they rescue most often as they are sometimes left by their mothers. They do a great deal of research here at the center, as well as the rehabilitation aspect. We learned more about the five species of salmon, including a great way to remember the five using your five fingers. Thumb rhymes with Chum; use your pointer finger to sock someone so sockeye; middle finger is the tallest so it is king; ring finger would wear a silver ring and they your pinky would be the pink salmon. I love it! Now most of them also have another name they may go by but this is a great start and now all of you can be well educated in your salmon species!

After the tour we went through the Center on our own; by the time we finished it was almost six and we decided to get some things ready for our departure tomorrow and then go to dinner later. LJ and Larry were going to have an early (4:30 AM) departure for their fishing trip and we needed to have all of our luggage packed and downstairs in the morning so Mike & Marsha could prepare for new guests arriving Friday afternoon.

Larry decided to stay at the B&B and skip dinner so the three of us headed to the waterfront to Ray’s. Claire and I each opted for a salad and an appetizer – she the steamed clams and me the crab cakes (yum!). LJ had a Cajun chicken pasta dish that he enjoyed. The atmosphere was great and we got a table right by the water looking out on the water, which was beautiful. Afterwards a quick trip to Safeway, the grocery store in Seward; and then ice cream to end the day! Doesn’t it sound like a nice, relaxing day?