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Alaska Trip, part IV
Jul. 1st, 2019 11:57 amThe dreaded summer mosquitoes weren't too bad. I used spray and only got a few bites. The wife was unaffected. (Proving that the garlic thing is a myth.)
We left site Sunday morning a little earlier than planned; someone was making an airport run and had extra seats. I felt a bit guilty not helping break down camp. Still, it meant we picked up our rental car right around noon rather than late afternoon. Also we saw a bear and a moose on our way out. They upgraded us to a small SUV (Kia) because they were out of midsize cars. That made the coast drive from Anchorage to Seward easier to look at the scenery - which, because it was clear, was jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
On the road to Seward, we pulled into a strip mall for coffee. A shop across the street caught my eye - "Butcher Block 9 Charcuterie". I kind of had to check it out. Lots of standard Italian-style cured and fresh sausages; also some Alaska game sausages. I got elk landjaeger (for upstairs as a thank you for cat feeding) and elk peppersticks (for work; several people there are unadventurous with food). The peppersticks basically taste like much better-quality Slim Jims. We'll try the landjaegers when the upstairs neighbors return from the war.
Seward doubles in population during the summer. Tourism is basically the only industry there now; they used to have fishing and canning, but that was destroyed by the tsunami in the '64 quake. We booked a bed-and-breakfast run by an elderly couple. They stay there during the season and in LA during the winter. (Quite reasonable in my book.) It was fine and far more interesting than a generic hotel room. The breakfasts weren't top of the line compared to some B&B's we've stayed at, but they were okay. She gave us some house-made Korean-style pickled salmon on our way out that I look forward to trying.
Sunday evening we walked down to the port to explore the port area, since we had an early morning cruise. We ate at a fancy-for-the-area restaurant that was good and had a very nice view of the water. It reminded me of a similar place in Gold Beach: good local fish, but with a higher opinion of its quality and ambiance than it really warrants. And prices to match their perceived level. Clearly aimed at the cruise ship clientele. I was wearing my "I like pig butts and I cannot lie" t-shirt, which made the hostess laugh. She bumped a reservation to seat us at a view table because she was amused.
Monday night we ate at a local's restaurant in a converted barn. Significantly less hoity ambiance. Excellent salmon for 1/3 the price of the previous night.
The high point was the 8-hour cruise we took Monday. It's really the first major tourist vacation thing we've done in years and we had a grand time. The weather was perfect: no ocean chop at all and clear most of the day for wildlife viewing. We got within 100 yards of a major glacier. We saw: humpback whales; a pod of six orcas, including two or three juveniles; puffins; sea lions and seals; bald eagles; and a bunch of apparently rare birds because there were birders on board. It wasn't fully booked so there was plenty of space inside and out whenever the captain idled for us to look at something. We were the only people to laugh when the captain commented about needing to get back before dark.
We left site Sunday morning a little earlier than planned; someone was making an airport run and had extra seats. I felt a bit guilty not helping break down camp. Still, it meant we picked up our rental car right around noon rather than late afternoon. Also we saw a bear and a moose on our way out. They upgraded us to a small SUV (Kia) because they were out of midsize cars. That made the coast drive from Anchorage to Seward easier to look at the scenery - which, because it was clear, was jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
On the road to Seward, we pulled into a strip mall for coffee. A shop across the street caught my eye - "Butcher Block 9 Charcuterie". I kind of had to check it out. Lots of standard Italian-style cured and fresh sausages; also some Alaska game sausages. I got elk landjaeger (for upstairs as a thank you for cat feeding) and elk peppersticks (for work; several people there are unadventurous with food). The peppersticks basically taste like much better-quality Slim Jims. We'll try the landjaegers when the upstairs neighbors return from the war.
Seward doubles in population during the summer. Tourism is basically the only industry there now; they used to have fishing and canning, but that was destroyed by the tsunami in the '64 quake. We booked a bed-and-breakfast run by an elderly couple. They stay there during the season and in LA during the winter. (Quite reasonable in my book.) It was fine and far more interesting than a generic hotel room. The breakfasts weren't top of the line compared to some B&B's we've stayed at, but they were okay. She gave us some house-made Korean-style pickled salmon on our way out that I look forward to trying.
Sunday evening we walked down to the port to explore the port area, since we had an early morning cruise. We ate at a fancy-for-the-area restaurant that was good and had a very nice view of the water. It reminded me of a similar place in Gold Beach: good local fish, but with a higher opinion of its quality and ambiance than it really warrants. And prices to match their perceived level. Clearly aimed at the cruise ship clientele. I was wearing my "I like pig butts and I cannot lie" t-shirt, which made the hostess laugh. She bumped a reservation to seat us at a view table because she was amused.
Monday night we ate at a local's restaurant in a converted barn. Significantly less hoity ambiance. Excellent salmon for 1/3 the price of the previous night.
The high point was the 8-hour cruise we took Monday. It's really the first major tourist vacation thing we've done in years and we had a grand time. The weather was perfect: no ocean chop at all and clear most of the day for wildlife viewing. We got within 100 yards of a major glacier. We saw: humpback whales; a pod of six orcas, including two or three juveniles; puffins; sea lions and seals; bald eagles; and a bunch of apparently rare birds because there were birders on board. It wasn't fully booked so there was plenty of space inside and out whenever the captain idled for us to look at something. We were the only people to laugh when the captain commented about needing to get back before dark.
