We awoke this morning to clouds but no rain. Yesterday evening was spent at the laundromat processing a week’s worth of dirty clothes in anticipation of boarding our cruise ship today.
Since ship boarding begins at 2 pm, we took advantage of our morning by touring the Iditaride (a play on “Iditarod”) sled dog kennels. It is owned by the man who won the 2004 Iditarod dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome, a distance of over one thousand miles run by eighty five dog sled teams in the dead of winter. We “met” the dogs and mushers, and took a wild, wheeled dog sled ride through the Alaskan forest powered by a team of thirteen sled dogs. Contrary to our expectations, these race winning dogs were not pure bred Alaskan Huskies, but a mix selected for strength and stamina. Many looked as if they had some German Shepherd or even Alaskan wolf in them. The dogs are really quite small and thin, but have a tremendous enthusiasm for their work reflected in their happy yapping and nonstop tail wagging. All in all, quite a ride.
We then visited the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward, where we saw a great display of seals, sea lions, sea birds including Puffins, a huge variety of fish and crustaceans. The displays were as good as we have seen anywhere including the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. Contrary to what we had been told to expect, we found Seward to be charming and interesting.
We dumped our rental car and boarded the Celebrity Summit in mid-afternoon. The ship is large and elegant. There is something for everyone including a movie theater, library, internet café, running track, fitness center, beauty shop, many bars and restaurants, and on and on. We were delighted with our balconied stateroom with its initial view of the mountains surrounding Resurrection Bay off of Prince William Sound here at dock in Seward. We were relieved that this morning’s clouds yielded to sunny blue skies. After dinner and the mandatory life boat drill, we set sail at 9 pm for a day tomorrow of cruising the open sea and Hubbard Glacier in the Gulf of Alaska
Hubbard Glacier
Holland America "Volendam" in foreground
Ididaride
Old Sourdough Mushers with Dog Team
Native Tlingit Lodge
Ketchikan, Alaska
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White Pass Summit
Looking down the valley
Nickie with dog sled-Cooper Landing
Who let the dogs out!!
Big John-Denali National Park
Overlooking valley with Alaska Range in background
John & Nickie
Planning the Alaska Trip
Denali Grizzly
Getting too close for comfort!
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