Riding the rails from Seward to AnchorageAug 5, 2018
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Very early morning at Seward docks
Daylight on the busy dock
Goodbye to the ms Noordam and board the cruise-train
We docked very early in the morning at Seward which is a deep water port south of Anchorage. Our train was a short walk away at the end of the pier. Many passengers took the cruise-train to Anchorage but others took a bus directly to the Anchorage airport, or began tours south on the Kenai Peninsula, or stayed in Seward for hiking or canoe/raft experiences. The train was very comfortable and had high windows that were great for photos of the scenery we passed. This was a pleasant morning.
In Anchorage, we had scheduled a city tour on a Trolley. It was very informative about the city and especially about the damage from the earthquake on Good Friday in 1964.
That was a 9.2 magnitude quake with 11 aftershocks registering 6.0 or more. The water from the tsunami flooded much of the coastal area killing vegetation due to the salt water flooding inland. The land along the fault line literally dropped 20 - 30 feet in many places. We observed one such area on the edge of Anchorage now named Earthquake Park where you could see the huge drop of the land that destroyed all the homes in a subdivision and took 7 lives of residents. Alaska is part of the"Ring of Fire" that circles the Pacific Ocean. Alaska continues to experience approximately 200 earthquakes daily most of which cannot be felt but serve to release pressure on the fault line hopefully preventing "another big one".
The flowers all over Alaska are beautiful in August and Anchorage is no exception. There were huge hanging baskets and flower beds everywhere. Another thing that is everywhere is aircraft - small planes are fitted with pontoons in warm weather to land on the lakes and rivers. Then pontoons are removed when snow starts and are fitted with balloon tires that can land on snow including the frozen rivers and lakes. There are more licensed pilots in Alaska than any other state, and even more that are unlicensed - it is a way of life.
And woe is me! THe hotel in Anchorage seemed to have no internet service in individual rooms. They apologized and indicated they were having a problem! The lodge in Denali did have internet service butit was so slow I could not access the "My Trip..." website. I am getting further behind in posting this blog.
