Alaska Days 3-4

So day number 3 we go got up and headed south on the Seward Highway, heading to? Seward. It was about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive, but it was so beautiful the whole way that we really didn't mind. We stopped again to watch the belugas in the water. Michael really enjoyed it! Jacob not so much, because he is a desert baby and doesn't like to be cold.
If you know anything about my boys, you may know of their train obsession, so of course we had to stop and see the train coming down the tracks.

The air was so clean and cool, I love that Jacob was enjoying the feeling. There is something fun about putting your hand out the window and riding the waves.

I also love the color that the glacial silt gives the rivers and lakes if they are glacier fed, I think it is so pretty.

We made it to Seward and took a hike! It started out nice and easy but got a little more difficult for the boys, but they trudged on once they found some sticks. We were hitting their fall season and the leaves were starting to fall from the trees. Which if anyone knows anything about me, they know I love fall and I love crunchy leaves under my feet.

Exit Glacier is 3 miles long and they show how it has been receding steadily since the early 1800's, which makes me wonder how they can blame it on global warming caused by carbon emissions since that didn't really get going until the 1900's, but whatever.

I'll tell you what, that is a dang cold wind that blows off a glacier!
I love the blue color!
Michael was quite proud and has turned into a bit of a picture poser.

Every good hiker knows that you have hike out with whatever you took in. That includes children who don't want to walk anymore.

We then hit Resurrection Bay, where alot of whale watching boats leave from. I seriously considered adding it to our plans, but I was worried that the boys would get bored being on a boat for several hours, even with the chance of seeing whales. But I figure we will go on our next visit, when they are a little bit older and can appreciate it more.

We then hit the Alaska Sealife Center, which is a cold water aquarium. They had these buttons that you could push to hear different animal sounds, this is Jacob's reaction to the walrus. It makes me smile.

Here are some shrimp. Which really look pretty disgusting and make you wonder why you eat them. But then I had fresh shrimp that my brother had caught halibut fishing, and I gained a whole new appreciation for shrimp. Unfortunately I have been spoiled and now can never have anything but fresh shrimp. There is no going back.

A little puffin.

I liked the salmon exhibit and they had tanks with salmon at different stages of growth.

I have no idea what this fish is, but it's ugly. It sure seemed like he was coming to check them out.

After eating some more good food involving fresh halibut, we drove back to Anchorage and then north to my brother's house. Mark had to come back home for work, but I was staying 5 more days at their place. We missed him terribly the rest of the trip but still managed to have a good time.

The following day, we hit the Alaska State Fair for over priced food and rides, but you have to love fair food. It was actually the warmest day they'd had in over a month. Good timing on my part.

Riding a little train- are you kidding me? $3 a ride.

After the fair we headed back to my brother's place and enjoyed being outside. They loved, loved having a playset and swings, and room to run. They have a great sledding hill too and lots of trees, where moose like to come through and then come up the the house and eat my sister-in-law's flowers.

Sigh...oh to have grass. Of course the consequence of having this grass would be to have it covered in snow for 8 months. (That is my tall brother, he's 6' 5". I would like for my pediatrician to meet him so that everytime he sees Jacob he will stop asking how tall Mark is. It seems to confuse him that Jacob is so tall.)

The next day it rained the whole day and was about 50 degrees, so we were lucky to have such good weather on our adventures. I will finish up later with the rest of my visit. But I am glad I am actually blogging this so that I can remember what it was we did, when I finally get around to doing something with all my pictures...someday.