When we arrived in Seward that morning, the fog was so thick, you could barely make out the boats in the photo below. It was super interesting to watch the fog thin out!
Since there is not a large airport in Seward, cruisers usually elect to take a bus to Anchorage and fly out from there. We weren't sure how the timing of everything would work, so we extended our trip by a day and had a little fun exploring both Seward and Anchorage.
Airport bus times included 8:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. (or somewhere around there). Since we were on the 2:30 p.m. bus, the burning question revolved around what to do with our luggage while we explored the town.
After a little searching on my family's part, they found the Alaskan Bag Lady! She seriously met us at the port terminal, held on to our bags for the morning, then had them waiting for us when we returned! I was seriously impressed - super sweet people, too!
The town of Seward also includes a small bus loop of its own where you can ride to various points of the city without a charge. Our first stop was Starbucks followed by a local city park!
For real though - how about those park views? It was absolutely breathtaking!
A bald eagle flew over our heads while we were at the park and landed in this tree. It sat there forever, just looking around. So incredibly cool!
After the kids had their park fix, we walked over to a local cafe for a little grub!
I had the seafood chowder and it was really tasty.
Seward was just so picturesque!
While waiting for the next bus, I couldn't help but snag this picture. :)
The bus ride to Anchorage was painless and lasted about 2 hours. Our driver also acted as a tour guide and gave interesting facts along the way. Some of us might have napped, myself included.
The bus dropped us off at the Anchorage airport where we then snagged a hotel shuttle to our hotel. We had to laugh - they didn't have AC! It might sound silly, but it was a bit warm in Anchorage while we visited. One of our drivers told us that they'd already had 14 days of temps in the 70's this summer and that's incredibly unusual for them. About 2 weeks after we left, Anchorage hit their record high temperature of 84 degrees. It sounds wonderful when coming from the 100 degree south, but a little AC would have been nice. Not complaining - just sharing my experience!
Since our flight wasn't leaving until 6 p.m. on Saturday night, we decided to spend our Saturday morning at the Alaska Zoo! What intrigued me about the Zoo was the fact that most of their animals came to them from conservation efforts. I also loved that we could see animals you wouldn't see at your typical Zoo here in the south!
They had a ton of cute little setups like the one below. We had so much fun!!
I was super excited to see the Peregrine Falcon at the zoo - it's a fun story so stay with me here....
So, I once met a man who worked with the Walt Disney Company in film. He worked mostly on the conservation and film documentary side and was sent to Alaska to study the habits of the peregrine falcon. This was back in the 1960's or 70's when these falcons were on the endangered species list. After studying their day in and day out, they discovered that if you took an egg from the momma falcon, she would lay another one. It sounds harsh but when you're trying to help the species thrive, it's not. After 8 months there, they completed their project and moved on with their lives.
Fast forward to 1999, he received a phone call that he was being invited to a banquet. He had no idea what the banquet was about, but he went. Much to his surprise, it was a ceremony where the peregrine falcon was officially removed from the endangered species list and he was one of the honorees that helped contribute to this success! What a life accomplishment, huh? He told me that if he never did anything else worthy of accomplishment in his life, he was ok with that because this was such a huge one for him...and all because of his work with the Walt Disney Company! Pretty nifty!
Seeing one of these falcons in person was truly touching, especially knowing his backstory!
At this zoo, we saw wolves, cariboo, brown bears, black bears, bald eagles, and the list goes on!
Speaking of the brown bear - can y'all see those claws? I definitely don't want to run into him in the wild!
A petting zoo was also a part of this zoo where kids could pet goats, bunnies, and chickens.
You see my husband's grip on that kid "leash"? Yeah well, that's cause my child would have been the one rolling around on the ground, trying to lay on the goats. He LOVES animals of all kinds!
About 3/4 of the way through the zoo, we spotted a restroom and snack stop. Jason and I split a pretzel while Brayden had some Cheetos!
In all, we spent about 3 hours at the zoo and truly had a chance to see everything!
There was even a little park at the end which Brayden loved immensely!
The Alaska Zoo was seriously the perfect end to our trip! If you have a chance to visit, you should!
...and just like that, our week in Alaska had come to an end. We took a red eye back home and boy was that exhausting. We had so much fun overall and wouldn't trade a moment of it!
I had several of you ask, so stay tuned for a couple more recaps - a ship tour, a comparison between DCL and RCCL, and my thoughts on the kids club on RCCL!
Have a wonderful day!
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For recaps from our 7 night Alaskan cruise on board the Radiance of the Seas, check out these links below:
Alaskan Cruise: Travel Day & Boarding the Ship [Part 1] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: At Sea Day & Ketchikan [Part 2] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Icy Straight Point [Part 3] & VLOG (Icy Straight Point & Juneau)
Alaskan Cruise: Juneau & Whale Watching [Part 4]
Alaskan Cruise: Skagway & A Musher's Camp [Part 5] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Hubbard Glacier [Part 6] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Seward and Anchorage [Part 7] & VLOG
