Alaskan Cruise, the end! Home again at last!

Day 8, Monday, July 22 – Seward, Anchorage, and HOME!

Brian’s alarm was set for 6:20am, but I think he must have been in the shower already when it went off, because I heard it clear across the room on the desk, and it got to be MY wake-up call, a whole ten minutes earlier than my phone-alarm was set to ring. I had tossed and turned a lot in the night, but I felt ready to get up and going anyway. Our ship had docked sometime in the night in Seward, and they were letting people off at 7a.m. We hurried and got ready (I actually showered the night before, so I wouldn’t have so much to do in the morning), and went and got our last breakfast onboard. I was going to eat light and start eating right, first thing! But well… those little chocolate filled pastries were so delicious I had one more. And one more little omelet and one more little bowl of oatmeal and two broiled tomatoes and some toast. Honestly, it wasn't that much -- I'm not joking about “little.” And it was a nice “last” meal!

It was a long line getting off the boat, and then a huge pile to sort through and find our luggage in the bus terminal! We had booked a bus that stopped at an animal refuge center along the way, and had a guided tour as well. Our flight from Anchorage didn’t leave until 3pm and it was only a 4hr ride, including the excursion, so we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the journey. It was a GORGEOUS ride!! I’m sooo glad we got to see so much of the spectacular countryside with our drive. Wow! That really, really hit the spot and was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip! Again, we drove along beautiful, tall mountains, lots of green, lush forests and lakes and rivers and waterfalls. I was sleepy, but tried to stay awake for most of it, just because it was so lovely!

Our tour guide was a woman named Sherrie. She was… interesting. A little too “punny” (rhymes with “funny,” but not quite!) for my liking. Hehe. Her best joke was, “what did the old pirate say when he turned 80?” …. “Ayeee Matey!” (get it? Aye matey…I’m eighty? Hahaha!) She did have lots to say about everything, and we were sitting right directly behind her, so she had lots to say to us, too, it seemed. One interesting thing she told us… We drove along next to a really gray-looking inlet for several miles. She said it’s a tidal inlet and is so murky and full of silt that boats don’t really travel up or across it at all, even though it’s several miles long – it’s just dead space. It was really pretty, though. It didn’t look marshy and gunky. Kind of deceiving.

The wildlife park was definitely a great stop along the way! She explained that the animals they take in are there because they were found in bad shape, out in the wilds and needed help. There were several bears, BIG grizzly bears! She told us one was found as a cub, his mama had been killed by poachers and he was stuck up in a tree. He was severely dehydrated and the guy who found him said the cub was so weak, he just climbed the tree, wrapped the cub in his coat, and put him in the truck and drove him to the center. They had an IV in the cub for awhile to rehydrate him and had to feed him goat’s milk from an eye dropper until he could eat regular berries and nuts. Now he’s got his own enclosure and loves climbing trees – which he was doing when we saw him!

Another big brown bear was found after an encounter with a porcupine – he had quills all over his face and paws, including on his tongue! His tongue had swollen so badly he could barely swallow when they found him, and was starving to death and very dehydrated. They had to sedate him and keep him on a feeding tube for awhile to get him enough nourishment, after they had removed all the quills. I can only imagine that was an intense process!

They had a great big tall walkway built over the bear enclosure, so we were able to get some great pictures of them and feel safe but close! Brian even got a video of a really big bear ambling right on the other side of the fence. They seemed very unimpressed with people, but we were VERY impressed with them! There were lots of other animals we were able to walk around and see, also… muskox, bison, moose, wolves, caribou, elk, foxes, porcupines, etc! It was great to see them all at once, even if it was a bit like a big zoo.

Once we reached the airport, we were READY to go home! We still had a couple of hours, and we debated going into Anchorage for a bit. But the lines were huge, both checking luggage and going through security. So we opted to stay put. We had one last leisurely meal at a sit-down expensive restaurant – a salmon burger for Brian, fish tacos for me, and a bowl of chowder to share. And then… we were off! Home again, home again! I typed a lot of this on our sea days, and on the flight home. We landed at 11pm, and Cindy had graciously parked my parents’ car for us so we made our way home on our own, by midnight. Oh how wonderful it felt to climb into our own bed and sleep!! It’s sooo good to go, and always wonderful to come home!!

Next step -- I’m off to pick up my kids and visit with my parents a bit, with plans of coming home tomorrow. Back to life as normal… yay! This has truly been a wonderful trip of a lifetime! So glad we did it!!