Barrow Bound

Monday 09/24/2007 11:57 PM

Today we went to Seward, which is about two hours south of Anchorage. When we were honeymooning, the cruise ship let us off at Seward when we were all done with our seven-day tour. There isn't much to do in Seward except take pictures of snow-capped mountains and go to the SeaLife Center. We did both this afternoon.

The SeaLife Center was underwritten by Exxon. In case that doesn't help you figure it out... the Valdez wasn't too far from Seward. Did you know that the body of water there is ironically named Resurrection Bay. I say ironically because even though that part of the sea and land has been resurrected post-spill, it was christened as such about two hundred years prior.

Still haven't typed up stories for you. Maybe tomorrow on the plane. Then again, I'll prolly be asleep.

We're pretty much packed and ready to go. We've got a little extra to bring with us to Barrow. Talked to our guide today and I offered to bring him supplies. He asked for diapers (Huggies, sizes 3 and 5). So we obliged him and picked some up some this evening. My brother-in-law Mike was helping me and Bobby with the diapers going up to the room in the hotel. We were in the elevator talking about how we'll try to check the big box of diapers as luggage. Mike says, mimicking the inevitable TSA goon, "So what's in the box?" Mike replies, as one of us, "Diapers." Pause. As the TSA person again, "No, really, what's in the box?"

Daniel, our guide, told me that the pack ice still isn't in so it'll be bare shore on the Arctic Ocean. It's just past the end of the season, so he hasn't been out on a tour in a week, but he did say he's seen lots of bear tracks around (he lives outside Barrow, up towards the point, where the bears are).

Oh, and there's a good chance we're gonna get to see a bonus animal that we weren't expecting: Walrus. They've been on the shore for the last few days. And if we're really lucky, we might get to see polar bears hunting walrus. That will be awesome. Daniel said he once saw a fifteen-foot (as opposed to a fifteen-footed) polar bear wrap its "arms" around an adult walrus and try to kill it. The walrus used its tusks to drag itself and the bear across the ice to a hole. Daniel watched the walrus and the bear disappear into the water. About a minute later, the polar bear climbed out of the water empty-handed.

If we see anything half as cool as that, you will never get me to stop talking about it for the rest of my life.

File Under: Alaska; Barrow; Polar Bear(s)

Permalink | Comments | Trackback

Previous Entry | Next Entry