Whales, puffins and glaciers

Seward is beautifully located at the feet of the mountains in the Gulf of Alaska, it has a port where cruise ships often come, fishing and pleasure boats abound. There is  a large affluence of tourists who are all on a mission to soak in as much as possible of the beauty of these surroundings.

 

My plan was to be a tourist for next day and take a boat tour to see the fjords. Waking up rested after previous night arrival when I was quite cold for the last few hours I wondered why my heated clothing on which I relied so much stopped working. Since it was noon time by now and rain was still doing it’s thing, I had already missed the boats leaving at 11:45 , I decided to see what went wrong with the electrics of my heated Gerbing jacket. I pulled the bike under the hotel’s covered entrance and in short order replaced the heat controller and it’s wiring with a spare I had. Turns out  some dedicated hard wired connection I installed years ago finally corroded from water and ceased, taking the inline fuse with it in the process, so I repaired it unfolding my full tool kit to the delight of some hotel guests probably wondering if they didn't stumble in the wrong establishment.

The motel front desk folks already knew me by now and were chatting about my plans to depart next day sans boat tour if the weather didn't cooperate. They strongly advised me to go see the whales and glaciers even if it rained.

Although I wasn't so sure I wanted do do so, next day proved a miraculous break in the clouds and rain stopped, so I hoped on the next ship that sailed.

 

 

 

Whales don't actually jump out like dolphins but they are cool to watch.

 

Sea Otters are funny spinning around

 

 

Puffins are also in their habitat here

And many other birds

 

Colonies of sea lions live here

I had the stupid urge to drink this ocean water, it looked so pristine

 

Approaching a glacier

What better way to celebrate than holding a block of glacier ice

 

Time to leave glacier behind and head back to port

Where a salmon dinner is welcome

Then making the return trip to Anchorage following same scenic route going North this time

Stumbled upon this place,  probably one of the local’s frequent ride destinations

But it wasn't mean to be my day stop since they apparently weren't offering any rooms, so it was going to be Anchorage and Motel 6 for me that night.

Rain, Talkeetna, Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula - Seward

Next day the rain was almost omnipresent, but still afforded some nice views heading South to Anchorage.

It's hard to keep going when every scenic view would be best enjoyed stopping for a while

Then of course the obligatory gas and snack stops where meeting other travelers makes the experience so much better.

Here I met one very, very fast GS rider

And some folks who came al the way from Ohio to see Alaska

Getting lunch away from rain, under a roof

Then back on the road for some more riding in the rain

When the rains stops sometimes it feels as a Godsend

One of the suggested stops, an interesting Hippie place, Talkeetna

Passing through Wasilla

Anchorage

Seward Scenic Highway gets you from Anchorage to Seward, it is one of the most scenic rides I ever had, bar none.  The aprox. 130 miles road hugs the ocean shore and is flanked by monumental snow peaked green mountains, sometimes with small waterfalls from the melting snow. Across the water, in the distance, there are more snow capped mountains. It is simply breathtaking seeing this the first time.

Hard to depict the beauty of this road

Let the videos speak

And pictures

Too bad weather wasn't perfect, but it really couldn’t detract from the beauty of these places.

I made it to Seward eventually, again really late judging by the clock, as there was still light, although not as much as in the North Alaska by this hour.

Breeze Inn proved to be best choice of accommodation, with good Internet connection and being  in the middle of everything related to visiting the Kenai Fiords National Park.

While gassing up, I got again compliments from a local taxi driver, who was amazed I came all the way from New York, all by myself, on “that motorcycle” and that I was planning to also get back there in the next two weeks.

The show must go on

After riding as far as allowed in Denali park, I headed back to town, rain starting to spoil things as usual, but I had seen some of the majestic peaks greeting first time visitors in the park, the rest can only be seen via bus tour or many of the flights offered in the area.

Videos from the park (click to play)

Rain starts setting in again, but I had a chance to see some of the park and I am happy. Video:

I took few more pictures while headed back to town to find a place for the night.

 

I got out of rain booking a nice motel room with mountain view, then had dinner in the upscale Denali Princess Lodge restaurant across the street. 

While food and wine were a good change from my usual road food, I realized I had grown to somewhat dislike all the atmosphere associated with touristy places and the fakeness that accompanies tourist traps; much rather prefer a meal by a camp fire with a nice company for conversation. That feeling may likely have had to do with one of my previous lives, where I allowed myself  to believe blindly in idols such as the ones below.

But getting out of the rain in a room was nice for a change, hot shower refreshing after several days in the saddle. My room window was right above the store fronts in  this picture taken around mid night.

With a little help from my friend Jack Daniel’s and drawing the heavy curtains I soon fell in a deep sleep.

Beautiful Alaska

I had already used half of my four weeks time, didn't have the slightest idea on planning remaining time frame, how Fairbanks or the rest of Alaska or my return home was going to be.  From Chicken the choice was to go to Fairbanks and then either North to Arctic Circle or head down to Anchorage and Seward passing by Denali national park, in the remaining two weeks time I had to be back in New York. Getting thumbs up from drivers in Fairbanks for my New York license plate, confirmed the realization of my dream. I had ordered ahead in Anchorage a rear tire and was prepared to spend a day there getting it replaced along with a needed oil change. So I decided to defer the trip to Arctic circle for another time, and instead go see more of the South Alaska, and Kenai peninsula which I had heard so much about it’s beauty.

Heading to Fairbanks

Mr. Wei in action

 

You MUST stop at Fast Eddy’s, the food and service are top quality

The Alcan ends here

(You can click on any of images media and that will take you to the Gallery with much more)

After camping in Fairbanks, and again not getting much sleep as usual, I was suddenly awaken by a team of Colombians parking their colorful mobile food vending vehicle, yelling directions in Spanish for the driver who was backing it in the space next to my tent. After I got out of my tent to see what was all of this about, we engaged in conversation and I mentioned maybe one day I would ride there to see their country by motorcycle. Their remarks were that I should be allot more careful going there “on that motorcycle” pointing admiratively to my loaded yellow BMW. Seems living in Northern American continent one easily forgets that many other places on Earth are not so rich and traveler’s safety from theft can be sometimes a concern. By contrast in 5this trip, using common sense, not one time did I feel reasons for concerns during my entire trip, especially after getting past the anxiety of first few wilderness camping days. And although I kept the bear spray and camping knife close, after a while I realized they were simply for my peace of mind rather than real protection if that case ever came.

Back on the road, heading to Denali:

 

 

Here I met a father and son riding from Texas on KLR and GS 800, we helped taking each other’s pictures.