Day 9 July 12, 2022, Tuesday
Before breakfast, we packed our bags and left them on the porch of our cabin for the staff to take down to the dock as this was our last day on Fox Island. I was sad to see it end. Here’s a picture of John in front of our cabin.
Breakfast
For our breakfast appetizer, we had chia seed pudding. (Who ever thought of having an appetizer with breakfast?) The night before one of the servers told us about our breakfast options. She ran the words together, so it sounded like “chee-a-sees.” Our general reaction was “What the hell is that?” We got her to slow down enough to finally understand that what she was saying was “chia seeds.” Oh, okay, we’ll have that. When it was served the next morning, it looked like chia seeds in yogurt with granola and blueberries and was actually very tasty.
After the chia seeds pudding, we had eggs benedict. I had thick Canadian bacon, or maybe it was ham, on mine. We had a choice of bacon or salmon or, tomato. Instead, Krista got more of those yummy pancakes we’d had the morning before.
Farewell to Fox Island and hello to Seward
The little boat that took us on the tour the day before came and picked us up. We said hello to Lacy and Tonya while they took us back to Seward. After leaving the boat, we boarded our bus that would take us to our next stop and then on to Anchorage. That next stop was the Alaska SeaLife Center. The bus dropped us off in front and then went to park and wait for us somewhere else.
Alaska SeaLife Center
Tom paid for our admission and then asked the group if they wanted to go on the behind-the-scenes tour. Tom had downplayed it pretty hard, but I thought I might want to do it. John encouraged me to go, so we did. I think Tom got some bad information about that tour because the person who took us on the tour told us about the rescues the Center does as well as the scientific research the staff there does. The animals they keep are the animals that they don’t believe will survive if they are returned to the wild.
When we were on our boat tour of Resurrection Bay the day before, Tanya got a call from a boat captain who thought he’d seen an injured sea lion. We went by that spot and didn’t see any injured animals. She explained that it is hard to tell sometimes. With her smaller boat, she was able to get closer. If we had seen an injured animal, she would have called the Center to attempt a rescue.
Before and after the tour we walked around and looked at their exhibits. They had an open aquarium to stick your hands in to touch sea creatures. I don’t really remember which ones. We stopped by the gift shop and I looked for t-shirts. I’d already bought the Dallas kids their shirts and was looking for something for the New Jersey boys. Valerie gave me some size and color suggestions. She told me that one likes orange and the other likes blue and best the same design. I didn’t find anything there, but I figured we’d be able to find something in Anchorage.
Lunch and on to Anchorage
Just outside the SeaLife Center, we found a restaurant that looked nice. Karen looked for it on Google and said it was Zudy’s Café. https://zudyscafe.com/ The group lined up inside and ordered our meals to go and let Tom pay for them. That was fun. Then, we took them on the bus for the 2.5-hour drive to Anchorage. The sandwiches were really good and we each got a cookie. I love cookies for dessert.
We got to Anchorage by mid-afternoon and unloaded from the bus in front of the Hilton Anchorage. After the bus driver got our luggage out of the underside of the bus, we hauled them into the lobby and waited for Tom to get us checked in. There are two towers in this hotel, and on our first stay (this one) our rooms were in the tower with the elevators next to the front doors. The bellhops all offered to take our bags, but I hate waiting for bags. I wasn’t so tired I couldn’t pull my own bag from the lobby to the elevator and from the elevator to the room. Of course, that meant the bellhop didn’t get his tip, but I can’t be responsible for that.
I was surprised to find that our room was right across from the elevator door, and I don’t believe I’d ever had a room in that location before. I’ve read that rooms by the elevator or the ice machines get noisy, but I didn’t notice any noise.
Shopping and dinner
We were on our own for dinner shopping and looked for a wine bar while we shopped. We didn’t want anything big for dinner. All the places one could likely get wine looked like bars and neither of us was interested in that experience. We ended up in the hotel bar. Below is what I wrote when we got back to the room.
John and I just got back from souvenir shopping and wine drinking. I’m a bit tipsy. I had a whole glass of pinot grigio and that’s way more than I usually drink, but what the hell? We had a bowl of tortilla chips with guac and salsa which was pretty darn good considering we are in Alaska, for heaven’s sake. Unfortunately, I’m not hungry for the half a sandwich I saved from lunch to have for dinner tonight. Oh, well. It may or may not get eaten. We’ve wasted several sandwiches on this trip.
We bought shirts for the New Jersey boys and a dish towel with a raven for Mark. I found a pretty pair of purple gloves for Becky. Clearly not thinking, I bought myself some yarn and a pattern that requires knitting only and just increasing and decreasing stitches. I did it before; I can do it again, surely. We saw Cathy and Karen in one of the stores. I told her to call me if she wanted to play cards later tonight. Now that I’m back in the room, I’m not sure I want to, but she may not call and that would be fine.
Anticipation for the next day
For the next day, we’d been told that we could take only one bag each that weighed no more than 35 pounds on the small planes that we’d be on to get to Brooks Falls. After getting back from shopping and dinner, John and I repacked our bags and put everything in the two small bags we put under the seats on big airplanes. We also brought my little backpack. I wanted to take my hiking poles, but they wouldn’t fit in the little bags. I figured I’d carry them downstairs with me in the morning and ask Tom what to do with them.
We went to bed and slept fine looking forward to going to Brook’s Falls the next day and seeing lots of bears. And did we see bears!
Fitbit data for July 12: 7,750 steps, 3.08 miles, 1526 calories, 1 floor, 12 active minutes
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