It's Raining Again! Now in Palmer, Alaska

It seems like weeks ago since we were in Homer where the sun was shining. After that, we travelled to Seward and camped in the city campground which is right on the edge of Resurrection Bay. As soon as we got there, a bus picked us up and took us to Exit Glacier, where you can hike up about 3/4 of a mile to get to the base. That evening, it started closing in and raining and didn't let up until we left to go back up the Turnagain Arm towards Anchorage.

While in Seward, we took the Kenai Fjiords National Park tour which lasted about 8 hours and included a salmon dinner. You have to take that trip if you are ever in this area, as the boat captains do everything in their power to find wildlife for you to view. We saw all kinds of birds, including puffins and bald eagles, sea otters, sea lions, dolphins and humpback whales. We also went right up to a glacier but didn't get a chance to watch it calving like on previous trips. Still, it is an awesome sight! The third day we were in Seward we went to the Alaska Sea Life Center which showed many of the wildlife we had seen the day before, but up front and personal. You could also "pet" some animals like anemones and starfish. They have done a wonderful job of education and rehabilitation of many of the animals. Wouldn't you know that as we went to dinner that night and returned to the campground that the clouds parted, the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening! We left that next morning.

That next day, we had about a 3-hour trip to Palmer, but encountered a terrible wreck on the two-lane Seward Highway, just south of Anchorage. By the time the police decided that it would take hours for the wreck to get cleared off the highway, everyone was turning around and taking a detour through a residential section of town. It was quite a job to get the rigs turned around on that narrow highway (with steep shoulders); most of us had to unhook our "toads (our towed cars) and travel separately until we got through the messy traffic. It was comforting to know we were in good company however. The Holland America and Princess buses were having to turn around too! That 3-hour trip turned into about a 7-hour trip but it was sunny and pleasant when we arrived in Palmer.

Today we went on a tour of Palmer, to a reindeer farm and a muskox farm as it began to start raining again. Of course, we have a coverdish dinner this evening and as usual, we will enjoy ourselves no matter what the weather provides! Tomorrow, we are off to Valdez!