Day 71 - Bird Creek to Seward

A Town Called Hope 

We hadn't planed on getting to Seward today. Our original plan was to go first to Girdwood, about 12 miles south for breakfast, showers and laundry (for Harry and Sally). It all went well, although the cinnamon rolls at the Bakery were huge and deadly.

The Girdwood Laundromall has a laundromat with showers and wifi (a common combination in Alaska), A hair salon, a masseuse and a cannabis dispensary...yes, Alaska permits recreational sales. The showers were large an clean and the laundry went quickly. The salon couldn't fit Ellen in for a trim and the dispensary is closed on Sunday. 

After a fuel stop, we were off to the town of Hope. It is directly across Turnagain Arm fro Bird Creek, but about 50 miles by road, about 35 on the Seward Highway, then 15 miles on the side road to Hope. The Seward Highway is a mostly two lane road with an inordinate amount of traffic. It was consistently heavy, almost like driving the two lane section of the Mid-Cape highway in the summer....somehow I'd gotten the evidently mistaken impression that Alaska was the last frontier.

Hope was a bust. Porcupine Campground had few sites with a view, was densely wooded and had lots of flies. Hope was crowded with people fishing in the mouth of the creek with nowhere to park. We left town and started

back to the Seward Highway.

We stopped at a pull-out with a great view for lunch. While having lunch, I managed to get a good enough signal for Internet access and checked the weather. It looked like most of the week was forecast to be wet. Tomorrow was the only day that wasn't supposed to rain. We had been planning to do a long boat tour out of Seward up to the glaciers and with some pelagic birding along the way. We originally thought that we'd do it later in the week, but decided to move it up. We gave the tour company a call, made reservations for tomorrow and set the autopilot (steve) to Seward.

We arrived in mid afternoon and found two sites at the municipal campground along the waterfront. It is a lot like being on a gravel parking lot, but we are parked parallel to the shore and if we close the curtains at the ends of the van, We have only a view of the harbor and the mountains on the other side....and of the birds.

While I'd gone to pay for our site, Ellen got out her new spotting scope. Within 20 minutes, she'd seen three new birds. A good view and good stationary birding...an excellent combination.

We all walked up to the boat basin for dinner. After watching the offloading of fish from a Halibut charter boat, including a 150 pound Halibut, we walked across the street to the local fish and chips shop for a good fish dinner. We had grilled salmon and chips. Harry and Sally each had grilled halibut and chips. Both were made with very fresh fish and were quite good.

After eating way too much, we waddled back to our respective Roadtreks to sleep it off and get ready for tomorrow's tour.