Seward to Girdwood

Thursday, June 21

After leaving our apartment, we made a brief visit to Lowell Point, just outside Seward’s downtown, and then headed through town to the Exit Glacier Visitors Center of Kenai Fjords National Park.  

 We walked to the edge of the glacier on a short trail and were struck by the signs dating the historical extent of the glacier’s reach on the trail and also on the park’s entrance road; they provided striking indicators of the glacier’s retreat over the years.  On the return hike, we walked through a section of the glacier’s outwash

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The day was warm, clear, and sunny and our drive north along the Seward Highway was slowed by many stops for photo ops. By unanimous agreement, we again took in the beauty of Tern Lake, as we had two days ago; it’s a gem!

We enjoyed a stop at the Begich-Boggs Visitors Center at Portage Glacier and the cool walk along the iceberg-laden lake shore before arriving at our B and B in Girdwood. Girdwood is a ski (funky) town at the foot of Mount Alyeska.  After a severe winter, there is still quite a bit of snow on the mountain, and that will impact our hiking plan for tomorrow…

The Summer Solstice is a very big deal in Alaska and evidently needn’t be celebrate on the day of its actual occurrence.  This year, it fell on June 20^th (yesterday), but most folks are used to celebrating it on the 21^st.  Or the nearest weekend… Or whenever they feel like staying up all night, having bonfires, playing music, or telling stories…  They seem resigned to the unhappy fact that, as far as daylight goes, it’s all downhill from here!