September 8, 2010
Today started with a bus ride from Anchorage to Whittier. We had a bus driver, Ed, who had lived here since 1956 and watched the town grow from 35,000 to over 250,000. He experienced the 1964 earthquake and told us how he had just picked up his car from the repair shop that day and was preparing to take it back because it was driving funny. As he prepared to turn around, the whole world started moving in huge swell-like waves! Needless to say, his car had been repaired; it was the earthquake that he had felt!
Anyway, we traveled along the Seward Highway, skirting the waters edge. We looked long and hard for the large white whales called Beluga Whales - it was a prime area to see them - but it was not to be. This area has its own subspecies of Beluga's and they do not interbreed with other Belugas. I would have really liked to have seen some.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the bus trip was the tunnel we had to take to get to Whittier. As tunnels do, this one goes through a mountain but it is only one lane! On one side of the tunnel, cars go through on the hour, every hour, for 15 minutes. Then that side is shut down and the other side gets its turn. They get the half hour mark every hour for 15 minutes. The extra 15 minutes on each side are to allow the cars to get all the way out of the tunnel. The really tricky part is trains also share this tunnel. In fact the cars going through are essentially driving on the railroad tracks. To fit the trains into this schedule, trains take precedence. When you drive through the tunnel, it is very narrow and you can touch the walls on either side (only if you were an idiot and opened your window and stuck out your arm!). The tunnel itself is 2.2 miles long so it's a little ways before "you see the light at the end of the tunnel!"
The cruise gave us a true taste of cold Alaska. Of course, we're going to see glaciers so what else would you expect? There were quite a few people on board, including a tour group of Japanese. All of the information our captain gave us, was also given in Japanese! No, my first and only lesson with Rosetta Stone Japanese lessons did not help me. We saw many glaciers. Even watched 'Surprise Glacier' calve before we had to leave.
We visited a fish hatchery where they take and fertilize salmon eggs. We also watched Steller Seals outside the hatchery catch and eat salmon that were still hanging around. Their 'snap the fish's back' routine was a little on the vicious side but it have us a show.
Lots of gulls around, but the best wildlife seen was the dozens of Sea Otters on their backs eating clams and crabs. We had to be extremely quiet as they are shy creatures, but to see them floating on their backs, sometimes in large groups or rafts, watching you with their black shoe-button eyes is quite an experience. We all were really hoping for whale sightings but alas that was not to be (taking a line from my daughter). We did get extremely cold but it was well worth it. And it only took 2 hours to warm back up with the help of hot chocolate. We had a four hour wait for the ferry there in Whittier. As I already told you, there's not much to do. So we visited that grocery store (which is how I know it was 'bare') and visited with people. Watched the cars, RVs and people arrive for the ferry. We finally were able to board and after watching the ship leave port, went to bed.
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