Ya Gotta be Kiddin' Me!

The day we left Homer, we expected to retrace our steps toward Anchorage without much excitement.  After all, we had already seen this road.  We got out a tape to listen to, our first book on tape of the trip, but we immediatelly turned it off, because we were back in beautiful country when we hit Coopers Landing.  The area down to Homer had been all tundra; small trees, barren land.

The only thing the first part of the trip had going for it was Mt. Redoubt, which was cloud covered on the way to Homer.  And Mt. Iliama, which was even more visible today.

We decided to make the side trip to Seward, which is only 36 miles from the highway we are on.  We have traveles the Sterline Highway, then the Seward Highway and now Route 9, which takes you to the town of Seward.

This is a small cruise ship town, and was founded as a railroad terminus.  It is a beautiful ride from here to Denali.

And it is the beginning of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race.  This is Mile 0.  It started as a way to get mail to Nome.

While we were at the landing, we spotted an Otter - it actually had an act, and looked like it was waiting to be photographed!

 There was a cruise ship in, and we enjoyed watching the people.  Many were getting the train to denali and some were taking other side trips, one of which was to Exit Glacier.

  All of these glaciers have receded dramatically in recent years, and it is now a hike to get to the front of the glacier.  Exit Glacier is called this because it is the first place you can get off the Harding Icefield, which starts just above Homer.  The ice fields get 70 feet of snow a year, and many people travel over them.  They are named for Warren G. Harding, who actually made a trip to Alaska , the first President to do so.  They named a mountain after him, too, close to Skagway.  He died a few weeks after the visit.

We saw one of the trains leaving for Anchorage, and at one point, where it was coming out of a tunnel and going over a bridge, decided to wait for it.  They really look beautiful in their blue and yellow paint, and you could hear the whistle a long way!

We looked at three wonderful campgrounds on our way to Skagway, and chose Primrose.  We had a spot right on Lost Creek where it empties into the Kenai Lake.  John thought it was one of the prettiest sites we've stayed in so far.  He talked about the people on the cruise ship and said, "They think they have it so great!  But they don't have anything like this!  Ya gotta be kiddin'  me!"