Monday, July 21.   Alaska Scenic Railroad trip to Seward

This was supposed to be the highlight of our Alaska trip. We have seen wonderful TV videos of the spectacular views along this train ride through tunnels, over ravines on high rail bridges, but today was cloudy, overcast and really disappointing.  Here are a few of the pics that turned out OK. We did see some glaciers along the way. The next morning, we queued up before the ship to take our all-day Kenai Fjords National Park boat tour. The day started up cloudy, but as you will see, the weather in the Fjords was eventually spectacular. Kenai Fjords National Park   Fjords National Park Bring Alaska Close The Marvels Are Revealing Fulfilling The captain was very good at spotting whales. After all, the name of the tour is WhaleCoast AK. We better see some up close. Seals are a lot slower, and had no tendency to leave. Neither was Ann. She claimed to sleep 10 hours each night. OK, let's get serious about getting some decent close-ups of these whales. The captain said when the ship slowly goes in one direction, a group of whales will come close to investigate. I think they are teasing the photographers. Got one!!!!!

Alaska Railway   Train Alaska Railway Furnishing Different Transportation Relaxed Way to Travel Roomy This verifies that we were on the Alaska Railroad. The clouds are beginning to break up. Goodie! Trouble is, by the time you are told where the whale is, turn you camera that way, all you usually get to see is the tail. The sea gulls had no reason to leave. Wildlife   Wildlife Abundant Encounter Checking Off List Whales/Otters/Seals/Sealions Everywhere  He surfaced right next to the ship, and my camera was pointed right at him.

We proceeded to head toward the glacier. the huge GPS above shows our ship with the dotted line pointed toward our target. This is what the edge of the glacier looked like. I was not able to get good pictures to stitch on my computer software because the ship wouldn't stay still. You need steady ground to take such pictures. To see the whole glacier in one panoramic view, click PAN, scroll down and right. Now, the GPS switched so that it was pointing straight down at the bottom. We still have 536 feet to spare. But we haven't come to the narrows yet.  Fox Island   Dinner Fox Island Satisfying Our Hunger There Are Always Fish Compatible We all made it back and our day was nearly over. Bedtime in a few hours. Next, our    Return to Anchorage. Ailalak Glacier   Fjord Ailalak Glacier Presents Perfect Picture The Wonders of Ice Marvelous On the way back, the GPS showed where the ship had to navigate. The small print said it had to go EXACTLY where it was pointing. The "144" on the right is the current depth of the water. 50.9 feet to spare. I think we made it. The white stalks above are trees that were petrified after the 1964 earthquake.