Monday, May 24, 2010

Trip to Seward

What an awesome getaway! Lisa and her mom took the train down to Seward early Sunday morning. Me and the little ladies got up and got ourselves in the car and took a roadtrip to meet them in Seward. Here is 4 minutes into the trip.

The trip went GREAT! The girls talked with me and sang to me for the first hour but eventually faded off and took a nap. They woke up to waterfalls, giant lakes, and more beautiful scenery as we pulled into Seward to find Lisa and Eileen wating for us at the train station. LUNCH!

Meanwhile, Lisa and Eileen had an incredible journey down to Seward. Lisa has done this trip one other time and it was the first for Eileen. What is special about the trip is the train goes a different route than the road for about a third of the way down to Seward. I believe the only way to access this part of Alaska is by rail or flying in so it's a unique experience to see truly untouched land. I need to go through all of their pictures...here are just a few.

They paid a little extra for the special treatment and a seat in the fancy new car. Lisa said that they were serving mimosas at 7am. MMmmmm!! First class all the way. The seats were also reversible and since the car wasn't completely full, they turned the seats around in front of them so Lisa could have her foot up. Not a bad idea at all.

A good shot at the car that they were in with the dome-style roof.

I love this one. It doesn't even look real. The Alaska Railroad should use this as an advertisement. It looks like to me that they are looking out at a fake picture.

The cabin wasn't quite ready after lunch so we found the toddler park and let the girls try and wear themselves out.



I really like this one that Lisa took

An incredible treat...as the girls were swinging away, a Coast Guard Hilo and small boat started doing some exercises. Unbelievable. I've seen lots of Coast Guard boats, planes, and hilos...but I've never actually seen them doing exercises until yesterday. AWESOME!!


This next one, the guy actually just jumped out of the helicopter! It's really hard to tell but if you zoom in, you can actually see a little orange near the water. I think I got him just as he was going in.

After he jumped in the water, the helicopter lifted up and circled a couple times before coming back to pick him up.

The guy in the water used a bright green flare and then this red smoke to mark his location.

And then up he came!

They came around and picked up and dropped off the guy in the water several times.

Afterward, we headed to the cabin for some games. Girls first lesson in croquet. They did great...except hitting the ball was too hard so they just rolled it. Whatever works.




Katy showing off a little plumber butt.



After some horsing around in the front yard, it was off to dinner with a view back at the harbor in Seward.


I took the girls down to the dock because we saw some sea otters swimming around during dinner. Unfortunately, they were gone by the time we got down there.

Then back to the cabin for a bonfire and marshmallows.

Great first day. The second day was just as exciting. LOTS of pictures to go through.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a great trip with fantastic weather. Did Lisa and Eileen see any bears from the train? Your pictures of the CG going water hoist ops bought back some vivid memories of combat rescue for real in Viet Nam. Hope to see you guys soon.