Seward Alaska, a Relaxing and Refreshing Time

I had meant to publish pictures of the RV park in my last post, had them ready to put into the blog, but got distracted I guess.   Here we are facing the Kania Mountains  and Resurrection Bay that I showed in yesterday’s post.  I knew there were two ADA spots right in this part of the park, and we lucked out with one of the two being open…the other being occupied by our new friend Maxine who is from Ontario Canada.  After staying here through the 4th of July, she is moving on to Dawson City, a famous Yukon Gold Rush town in the northern part of the Yukon.  Her daughter is a Canadian Parks Tour Guide there, owns her own home, but during the cold winter months, rents her house out and then she goes off house and pet sitting for people in other parts of the world.  Works for her, and glad her mom, who told me she celebrated her 75th birthday a few years ago, can still camp and go visiting like this all by herself.

     

Here are our neighbors to the left and to the right of us.  The pathway leads all the way to the docks on the left, and to the Alaska SeaLife Center to the right.  (We will visit the SeaLife Center later, probably on a rainy day.) 

 

The Waterfront Park Campgrounds is run by the Seward Parks and Recreation Department.  The map (click on it for a larger online version) shows the numerous camping opportunities along the water, starting at the far left where there are ten camping sites (including the host site), the middle area where there are 33 non-hookup sites and 20 hookup sites along the water, and two to three times that number of sites in the second, third and fourth rows off the water, and then even more sites off to the right of the map.  Overall there are 99 electric and water sites, at $40 per night, and around 150 non-utilities camping, along with an area for tent camping.  No reservations, first come, first serve, except that caravans can and do reserve some of the hookup sites, which are then marked as such.  Self registration at a pay machine is easy, put in your RV’s license plate, the site you are staying in, and the number of nights.  It will take exact cash, or Visa/Mastercard, and give you a receipt.  If you wish to stay longer, you may do so, and you may move to another site if you wish of equal value.  There is a dump station, $5 a shot for all, and it has the same automated system, but is simply a $5 charge, no other info needed.

You do need to realize that there are kids here, and there is this wonderful play area for them…they did not make play areas like this when I was a kid, that’s for sure.  There is also a skateboard area near this playground…and many kids skate by or ride their bikes along the pathway…but they seem to be good kids.

Seward is located on both sides of Resurrection Bay, although the main part of the city is on the left portion of the map, which is where we are also located.   The city’s population is estimated at 2,500 people, many of whom reside in the housing area on the right side of the lake.  There is a very active fishing port, and is noted as the ninth most lucrative fisheries port in the United States based on the monetary value of fish taken from the port.  The Alaskan Train has a end line here, and it is used by the Cruise Ships to transport people up to Anchorage and to Denali…although cruise ships just started to stop in Anchorage now. 

The city is named after former Secretary of State William H. Seward, under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, who was very instrumental in buying Alaska from the Russians.  Mile zero of the Iditarod Trail, a thousand-plus mile trail system in Alaska, is in Seward. 

It is also known for the yearly Mount Marathon Race, run on the 4th of July, which had its founding in the very early 1900’s.  There is a Men’s, Women’s and Junior category, and they race up to the top of the mountain (the Juniors race only part way up), and back down again.  It is one of the oldest foot races in the nation, some say it is the second oldest only surpassed by the Boston Marathon.   The record time is just under 42 minutes for the men, and just under 48 minutes for the women.  It is not uncommon for racers to cross the finish line bruised and bleeding.  In 2012 an Anchorage man disappeared while running the race, the first fatality of the years of racing.  Apparently the man was so slow, they had shut down the checkpoint before he arrived (the men’s race is always the last race), and speculation is that he went over the other side of the mountain, never to be seen again.  Remember, this is Grizzly Country…  That is the mountain in the distance above…our motorhome is to the right, Maxine’s little trailer is to the left.  She will be staying for the race…not us.

Last night around 9 pm I went to Lowell Point (see map above, it is on it) and got this shot of the other end of Resurrection Bay.  The guy with that little boat was cleaning fish, and if you look at the shadow, you can see my silhouette.  (No, I don’t have the camera over my head, it is the angle of the sun this late at night…two hours BEFORE sunset.)

On the way back I got another look across the bay, a little different look than what we have, but the same mountain range.

And this shot here looking back at Seward.  That land going out into the bay is the start of the park, and there is space for 10 RVs there with a nice view of the entire bay.  We “might” move over there sometime before we leave the area.

A Bald Eagle showed up last night and hung around for over an hour.  A couple had been cleaning fish earlier, and tossing remains out to the 30 gulls which had gathered.  By the time the eagle showed up, the party was over…but the gulls hung around too…which might have attracted the eagle to the area.

Boy, that Salmon sure looks good!

One good looking eagle, that’s for sure.

Speaking of the eagle showing up last night, as we were finishing up our dinner, fellow blogger ZippyPinHead, who has made comments on our Alaska trip these past few weeks, dropped by with his wife to say hello.  They live here in Alaska, and like to “travel where the sun shines” as he says…and knowing that Seward was having good weather, they came on by to say hello.  You can go to his blog by clicking on the header picture above, or look for him in the "blogs we follow" on the far right side of our blog page.  Thanks for dropping by Zippy.

On fabulous view of the bay and mountains before the day was done…