Seward, AK

Oh, the glaciers we’ve glimpsed! God’s grandeur—and reservoir of water—is evident, albeit shrinking.

We’ve been cruising from the more sheltered waters of Ketchikan into the open ocean. The rocking of

our study, streamlined ship reminds us that the winds and the waves win and our ship’s job is to
navigate through them while warning passengers to hold onto railings in halls and on stairs and to keep
fingers safe around doors. At every level of the ship is a central hall with two elevators. Between them
is a stand. We can always tell when the waves will rock by looking at this little stand—lots of airplane
“barf bags” are spread out on them for anyone to discreetly take into our rooms.

Thankfully, our sail into Seward was in the daylight (morning light comes a bit later up here) so that we
could join our fellow passengers in gawking at the splendor of the cradled glaciers within the vast Kenai Mountains. www.anchorage.net tells me that there are over 40 glaciers in this area; our photos will show the ones we saw..

Because it was heavily drizzling and the winds were buffeting, Jen would muscle the deck door open,

grip her phone tightly, snap some quick shots, then muscle the door open from the other side, and
almost collapse with relief when the warmth again enveloped. Photos will show the top floor of our
ship, a windowed panorama that allows gazing with comfort, aptly called “Horizons.” Watch for Jerry
next to the window as the photos gradually expand so you can see more this space where the on-board
quartet plays during afternoon tea and where a small number of passengers stay up late at night to
dance on the small dance floor. (Nope, not us.)

Ours is the last ship of the season here in Seward; most of the downtown restaurants, bars, and shops
were already closed until spring. We were a bit glad that we had no tour scheduled; the weather wasn’t
promising for photographs as the mist on the mountains gradually descended to the town. Our mission
(that we gladly chose to accept) was to find a sports bar with a TV with the chance to watch the
Hawkeye football team play Wisconsin. Imagine us walking the short two blocks of downtown, peeking
into small windows to see if the bar was even open and then if it had a TV. We scored!!! We were the
first customers of the day for the bartender (it was noon, our time), and she found the remote under the
u-shaped bar and gamely found the channel just in time for us to watch the opening kick-off. The Denali Cider beer had a touch of raspberry. Yummy.

After the game, we popped into the few gift stores that were open, then made our way back to the ship
in the light drizzle, stopping at a small grocery story in a gas station to get some munchies for our cabin
stewards.