Seward, Alaska

On the way to Seward we stopped at the Wildlife Conservation Center to see some local wildlife. We saw brown and black bears, musk ox, bald eagles, elk, reindeer, moose, and bison. It broke up the drive for us.

I took this picture specifically for Kiley. Go get him.

Em, you're such a photo hog. Look at you cover your babies face up like that.

I was trying to get a good shot of this guy above. Walking away thinking this was the best I could do, this guy below came out of the bushes to tell us we were brushing up on his territory.

It was pretty awesome getting so close to these bears.

Shhh, Ella, don't turn around, there is a bear right over your shoulder.

I am now obsessed with bear paws they look so cute when he was walking away all pigeoned toed and padded.

I think that bison is thinking "I want to stomp you."

The next day we hopped on a Kenai Fjords cruise tour. It was going to take us by a couple of glaciers and show us any wildlife along the way. Before we even got out of Resurrection Bay we saw a male bald eagle, a harbor seal and a fin whale, then we got to see a humpback whale. I got to see it's tale come out and then Kade and Shad saw it do one of those jumps out of the water and land on it's side. I still feel bad for myself that I was looking the other way on that one.

Can you see him? There's a bald eagle in that tree. I didn't want to crop this photo, because I think the whole scene is so pretty.

I couldn't get enough of the color of the water. It's my color, I've called dibs.

This is a fin whale. They are the second largest whale in the world.

Our boat's captain was thrilled at what we'd already seen when he told us to sit down and hold on. He wanted to see if he could show us something happening 4 miles out of our way.

He took us to see a pod of orcas. There were 2 adult males and a mother with her children. Orcas never leave their mother, the pod just grows and grows. It was so exhilarating.

We watched the orcas for quite some time. So much time that we only had time left to stop at one glacier. I for one didn't mind. I still get to see a glacier AND I watched a family of orcas.

The girls found a less windy place to sit on the way to see the glacier. The wind was so cold and biting when the boat was going fast.

The glaciers are quite amazing and beautiful too. We watched it calving for a while and listened quietly as the ice hit the water.

ex·hil·a·rate

 [ig-zil-uh-reyt]

–verb (used with object), -rat·ed, -rat·ing.

1.

to enliven; invigorate; stimulate:

2.

to make cheerful or merry.