Saturday was the last day of the cruise. We spent it sailing to Seward. I spent a good part of the day in the digital workshops. I had spent time in several classes on Windows 8 while we cruised but this was the last day to learn all I could before I ordered my new computer. I also had to pack to be ready to put our bags outside the room by 11:00pm. We had dinner that night in the main dining room as it was international night and they had food from a variety of countries. We played a little blackjack then went to bed early.
We awoke very early as we had to disembark at 6:00am to catch the bus to the train. We had a choice of taking a later bus to Anchorage but chose to take the train as we heard it was a lot more scenic trip. We crossed this river with a mountain in the background.
This was our train.
It was a beautiful day and you could capture the reflection of the mountains in the many lakes we passed.
We passed glaciers like this one:
Here is one of the waterfalls Wayne captured.
Soon after we saw this bear going up an incline.
Shortly after that was this moose.
Then there was another pretty waterfall.
We passed another pretty glacier
We passed over a little river with a pretty bridge.
We came to an area where there was a beaver dam but no beavers.
There was a nice eagle’s nest close to the tracks. Unfortunately there weren’t any eagles nearby.
We passed a marshy area with beaver houses.
Across a small lake we spotted this black bear.
Wayne got some great pictures as he walked along.
He/she seemed oblivious as it walked towards a patch of snow at the water’s edge.
After it crossed over the ice we lost it in the trees.
We had to pull into a siding to allow a faster train to go past us. The conductor got out to switch the track. The woman in our train said that they usually get out with a gun to protect themselves from the many bears in the area but we didn’t see a gun.
While we were stopped I got a picture of our train car.
And a picture of Wayne taking a picture through the window.
I think this is what he was taking a picture of.
As we reached the area of Tlingit Bay we saw this juvenile bald eagle on the beach.
Looking back at one of the glaciers that feeds this bay.
The dark line on the water is the tide coming in. sometimes it can reach several feet high. They sometimes see beluga whales in this area but not today nor when we were up here before.
The train slowed way down and everyone looked to see why. Finally we were on a curve and could see the front of the train. Then we all knew why. This was one of the highlights of the trip.
As soon as there was an area where they could get off the track siding, we continued on into Anchorage. We were so glad that we had chosen to do the train rather than the bus.
We arrived in Anchorage and immediately took off our coats. It was in the 80s there. They took us to the Eaton Center where we could check our carry ons and wait until we were ready to take a bus to the airport. Since our plane was not until 8:00 that night we decided to get a bite to eat.
We walked down the street to the Glacier Brewhouse.
Here is Wayne waiting for our diner of King Crab legs. We ordered a full pound and shared them. Yum!!
Since it was a brew house we tried one of their brews.
You get a poster to match the kind of beer you ordered and ours was the Imperial Blonde.
We had hoped to meet up with friends that live in Anchorage but they were on the road back from the lower 48 where they spend the winter. Maybe next winter. We went to the airport on the last bus at 6:00 That still left us with a two hour wait. The airport had a nice display with a grizzly chasing a deer.
As I walked toward the gate I was met with a flock of geese flying overhead and some giant geese standing guard along the walkway.
Our plane was late getting off but we arrived in Houston in time to catch our flight to Austin.
We picked up Trouble from Nola’s and went home and slept for two days. We were exhausted and jet lagged. We had a wonderful trip.
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