Although when the day started out, it was surprise! raining, we were still hopeful of a good day. First on the agenda was a trip to The Alaska Sealife Center. This is an educational and research institute that was originally set up with a portion of the money that Exxon had to pay after the Exxon Valdez accident twenty years ago. Patti spent quite a bit of time in an exhibit that focused on the impact of the oil sill on the sealife in the area and its recovery. Interestingly enough, bald eagles were the first to recover. This center is working hard to understand how people and climate change are impacting the environment around here. Dick was really into watching the puffins. 
One of the things that was really fun was to watch the staff come and weigh most of the birds. He had a little scale, would offer the birds fish, and then they would hop on the scale. They lined up and took turns. What fun! Another project the center is doing is called the Traditional Knowledge project where they interviewed 40 old Native fishers about sea birds and their experience with hunting them over the last 70 years. Highly interesting!http://www.alaskasealife.org/
The boat tour was amazing! When we checked in, we were told there was a weather warning and it was unclear as to whether we would be able to get from the fjord where Seward is located into the next fjord where the glaciers would be found. Fortunately, the weather and seas moderated and we were able to do the whole tour. The major bummer of the trip was Dick got pretty seasick. Not so fun! Nothing like getting green and throwing up to sap your energy. But, he decided it was still worth it. Most of the time he was doing pretty well. No salmon lunch, though.
As we made the three hour trip each way, we saw harbor seals, humpback whales, sea otters, puffins, stellar sea lions, cormorants. In short, great wildlife. The captain would take the boat close and idle for a few minutes so we could get good views and photos.
But the highlight was sitting for about 40 minutes alongside Aialik Glacier. The face of it was several hundred feet high. (You can see the size compared to another boat in the photos.) 
It just towered above us as we sat in a sea covered with chunks of ice with a couple hundred yards of the mass of ice. The captain asked that if you were outside on the deck, that you stay totally quiet, not even whispering. This allowed people to both enjoy the noises that the glacier made as the ice cracked and groaned. He advised people to listen to what it had to say. And it was VERY load and talkative. We got quite a show. 
Every few minutes another huge chunk would fall into the water. At times it sounded as though there were a cannon shooting, at others like thunder rumbling. Many times, the waves created by the falling ice really rocked our boat. Our park ranger, who did the interpretation of the nature, was thrilled. She said this was the most calving in one visit that she had seen in a couple of years. Wow, wow, wow!The trip back was through a little less rough waters, and we both snoozed a little as we scooted across the water in our twin hulled boat. It was fun to hear the swearing in of a new batch of Jr. Park Rangers who had completed their activities while in the boat. Patti and story partner James went through that ceremony a number of years back at the Tetons National Park. These little guys were very serious and totally in to it.
Then, we were back on solid land. We took a couple hour nap, after which Dick was finally ready for some real food. We had a satisfying meal of seafood quesadillas followed by chocolate cake back at our hotel.
As we worked on our photos and the blog, we had time to talk further with Alice, a young college student from Cornell where she is majoring in hotel management. She has been working at our hotel for the summer. It was fun to help her reflect on her experiences working in a boutique hotel, living in a VERY small community in Alaska, and on her future plans. Having been raised in upstate New York, she really did take a big risk to come live in Alaska, but was ready to fly back to New York again tomorrow. She also talked about getting to see the 4th of July Mountain marathon Race here in Seward. This is the nation’s second oldest footrace, having started in 1909 with two old guys betting each other they could run up and down a nearly 3000 mountain in less than an hour. It moved into the whole town coming out for it, and then into an annual grueling and crazy race, straight up and straight down. Another wild Alaskan experience. And, yet another interesting person that we met in this trip!The reality is that we are now making the turn. Seward was the furthest point on our trip. We now head south by first driving north. The only way out of Alaska to the east is to drive to Tok. We stayed in Tok coming up the Alaskan highway. This time we will cross it and take a more northern route. We are now on day 24 of a projected 38 day trip.
Our schedule for the next week:
Monday, 17th Start drive home, reach Tok, Alaska for the night
Tuesday, 18th Drive the “Top of the World Highway” to Dawson City, Yukon
Wenesday, 19th Explore Dawson City and then drive south towards Whitehorse, Yukon
Thursday, 20th Drive to Watson Lake, Yukon, celebrate anniversary
Friday, 21st Drive south in Central British Columbia
Saturday, 22nd Continue driving south in BC
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