Our first adventure of 2010 was a trip down to Seward, a small coastal town 130 miles south of Anchorage. The drive itself makes the trip rewarding as the road winds its way through harsh, rugged mountain ranges and past frozen glacial lakes. We saw some locals ice-fishing and passed lots of holiday-makers on their snow machines. At the halfway mark, Turnagain Pass, we stopped to experience some new Alaskan trails, this time on snowshoes.
Snowshoeing allows you to walk on top of the snow, regardless of its depth. At times we were traversing snow 5-feet deep.
We shattered the surface ice and crunched our way through the forest in search of moose.
After a two-hour walk my hair had frozen!
Seward is a charming little town, but rather quiet in winter. We visited the Alaska SeaLife Center, which had puffins and seals and sea lions, but we resisted the adverts to see these creatures in the wild on a scuba diving trip. We also enjoyed some real American bars (a la Colin in Love Actually!) - the locals are ridiculously friendly!
Seward has a little walking tour through the streets of the village, but again this should be more rewarding in the summer. We survived the trail for an hour before completing the tour in our car! We saw a couple of bald eagles and an adorable little sea otter playing in Resurrection Bay. We greatly anticipate a return visit to Seward in summer to see the glaciers.
