Saturday, June 9, 2012

Anchorage to Seward

Today we traveled from Anchorage to Seward .  We had a choice of either a bus or train ride. 
We decided to take the Alaskan Railroad train.   
Trip Advisor said it was the most scenic trip in Alaska. 

Michael and I like traveling on trains.  They have roomy seats and you can get up and move around the cars. 

The train traveled along the coast.  The two tall cars in the front of the train are the Gold Cars.  They have a dome roof.  We chose the standard fare because they had a military discount!!!

When someone would spot wildlife, the conductor would slow down the train so we could all see it.  Here we saw some mountain sheep.

We took advantage of the cafe car to get some coffee and hot chocolate!  We kept our free (to go) breakfast from the hotel to munch on druing our ride.  We knew at the end of the trip we would be getting on the ship of endless food!!!!!

We had a beautiful sunny day for most of the time.  The water is so calm, it made for some great reflection shots.  Not a bad shot from inside the train.

Below is an area that was flooded after the 1964 earthquakeThe land was displaced up to 38 feet in some areas.  This turned  a wooded area into a mainly swampy area. 

Then we started to go into the mountains. 
 Rivers ran next to the train.

We went through many tunnels.  Then we came to the "loop".  The tracks curved back and forth to get over a pass area.  You could see the front of the train straight across from where we were sitting.





We saw a a glacier!


Another, pretty good reflection.

After a four hour ride we made it to Seward.  By this time it is rainy, windy and very cool outside.   We made our way to the cruise ship.


This was a spectacular ride!  I was thinking if I had to go home right now, I have already  had such a fabulous experience.  But, NOoooooo, there is so much more to come.  Stay tuned......... Next I will share with you our home away from home for the next seven nights, The Radiance of the Seas.

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