100% Chance of Rain

 100% Chance of Rain

Seward, Alaska

September 12, 2022

After a week of being the only ship in port we awoke this morning to backing up beep beep beeps of lift trucks, flashing brake lights on a row of buses and a great wall of balconies. We were sharing the dock with the  Norwegian Jewel. 950+ feet long, 15 decks of balconies, 2400 passengers and 1100 crew. If there were sun, it would probably be blocking it!

Welcome to Seward. Nestled between mountains and the ocean, it’s a lively, bustling harbor. Some of the cruise ships are now embarking and disembarking passengers in Seward rather than Whittier on the other side of Anchorage. It’s easily accessible by road or rail from Anchorage and less than a day’s sail from the massive Hubbard Glacier.

Last night the captain advised that we might run into some “movement” as we entered the Gulf of Alaska en route to Seward, but once again the stability features of the Scenic Eclipse did their job. Barely felt any movement. Alas, the continuing cloud cover has hidden the Northern Lights. 

We arrived in Seward about 7:30 am. Once again, wet and rainy but little wind and not really that cold, around 50 F. Of course we are layered up, which helps. My last minute REI raincoat purchase is a success. Repels water like a champ.

Myrta went on a wildlife spotting boat on Resurrection Bay while Jim and I spent the morning at the Seavey’s Homestead and summer home of their Iditarod champion dogs. It was just a quick ten minute ride from the harbor. What a place! A long row of very handsome cabins, with hanging baskets of flowers yet, are the dog houses. The Seavey’s have 100 racing dogs. In the summer they live in Seward, give tours  and dog “sled” rides to visitors. There are fourteen dogs on each team. They were harnessed up and eight of us rode in modified ATVs as the dogs went flying along a two mile gravel trail. They live to run, so this both allows them to do so as well as building up their strength for the Iditarod race each March. They run best in temps from -30 to + 20 F so every so often our musher would stop the dogs for a few minutes   and allow them to cool down. They’re all pretty quiet as they’re hitched up but once the last dog is attached to the line, they all start to bark and yip like crazy.  The noise is deafening and the ride is thrilling, through giant puddles, along a raging creek and back to the compound. 

Then we spent some time indoors with hot chocolate and one of the drivers demonstrating how the dogs and drivers are bundled up for the long, arduous race. The Seaveys have won fourteen Iditarods with  three generations of mushers.  One of the dogs pulling our sled was Keys, an Iditarod champion. The dogs are much thinner than you’d expect and definitely don’t look like fluffy Huskies. 

Last of all, puppies! Half a dozen little guys from one litter were handed out to us to hold and cuddle. It’s great fun fir the humans and helps to socialize the dogs. Litters are named with a theme. Types of pasta, hats, cheese, music. The youngest Seaveys, the fourth generation, is in charge of choosing names, with veto power given to their grandfather.

  

Fun morning. The city of Seward was running a shuttle to town, but after lunch it was really raining. Not a blinding downpour but a steady, unrelenting rain. I’d planned to visit a quilt shop in town plus look for a bookstore but spent the afternoon instead in the observation room/library chit chatting with Myrta while she worked on a very complicated needlepoint. The bag of knitting I brought along is still in the drawer. 

We had dinner  in Lumière with another member of the Discovery Team, Saskia from Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. It’s so fascinating to learn about the career path taken to arrive on this boat. Ah, to be 50 years younger and ready and able to set off on such an adventurous life. 

The chef made us an amazing chocolate cake for a special dessert to mark our 41st anniversary. JJ decorated our room with folded towel swans and red hearts. Happy Anniversary, Jim.