Spent the last two nights in Seward at the Toroga Inn. It is a former officer’s quarters facility used in World War II. The first day, or rather evening in Seward we went to the Alaska Sea Life Center and then ate at Christinos for supper. At the Sea Life place, I was taking a photo of Tom with the Sea Lion and this woman poked my on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, could you move out of my way!” It was Evelyn – our co-tourist from St. Paul. She and Donna had only lasted only two nights at the Big Bear thing in Hope. We had coffee with them one last time. Such great people! That is one thing about traveling – the people you meet just make the trip! The restaurant, Christino’s, was one we had eaten at when Terry and Dee came. It was a lovely, dark, quiet place, not very crowded and we liked it. So we went there with the same expectations this time. About three minutes after we were seated about 100 middle school kids came in and were seated. We noticed that every last child had ordered a spaghetti dish at this fine seafood restaurant. It got loud and crowded and we really had to talk load to be heard across the table. The food was still great though. I had baked salmon. We went by the Benny Benson Memorial after supper and had a little drive through town. Seward is a beautiful place. We fell into bed and slept soundly in preparation for our 9 1/2 boat trip the next morning,

We took the Captain’s Choice boat since Mary wanted to see the most possible. It was a small boat holding only 20 people and it was not full.


We took off and kept going out further, going over ocean waves at high speeds. Oh, the captain was a female, maybe 30 and petite. We stopped for birds, seals, eagles, sea otters, whales, glaciers, and I’m sure there was more. Mary got three lifers-Rhinoceros Auklet, Black Oystercatcher, and Kittlitz’s Murrelet.

We were on that boat until 5:30 that evening. On the way back the boat went over some really rough seas. Tom and I chose to sit in the back part of the boat and it was going up and down and up and down over huge waves. I couldn’t move – because the boat was going so fast and up and down.


All I could think of was that I was going to lose all of my photos when we went under – that and wondering just how cold that water was going to be. Mary even sent the deck hand back to see if we were okay. Since that very wonderful trip, each time I close my eyes I am back on that boat going up and down – it’s been 24 hours now and the rocking has not stopped. We are taking the afternoon off after driving back from Seward this morning and birding along the way. We stopped at Hope Alaska around lunch time.


It was different this time in that there were kids and parents and dogs everywhere. SourDough Sue’s was not even open – probably didn’t want ll those kids in her shop. Mary and I walked over to the library and waited around till it opened. We had a great conversation with the librarian and checked out the used books they had had for sale. Both Mary and Tom found books to buy. (They had also checked out the library and the book sale in Seward on one of their birding trips.) It is a beautiful little town – a bit quiet for anything long term. I’m getting clothes washed for the last leg of our journey which will be Denali. We’ll be staying at Riley Creek Campground just inside the part.