Departing the Anchorage area, we headed southwest to the Kenai Peninsula. The weather was good, the tide was out and the scenery was outstanding. This is a typical view from the roadway.
We traveled slowly, taking in the scenery. We made a stop on the Seward Highway, approaching Hope. The snow-capped mountains looked different to us. Either we previously have traveled a bit later in the year, or this year had a late winter.
One on my “things to accomplish” in Seward this trip was a climb up Mt. Marathon. It looked pretty easy. NOT!
This is the actual site of the start of the historic Iditarod National Historic Trail.
In January of 1925, the children of Nome were dying, stricken with diphtheria. The village of 1,400 were at risk, along with the whole territory of Alaska. The port at Nome was iced in and the closest available serum was in Anchorage, more than 1,000 miles away. The serum was shipped via rail to Nenana, the point nearest to Nome, where a heroic relay of dog teams transported it across the 674 mile trail from Nenana to Nome, braving gale force winds, -85 degree temperatures, and whiteout conditions across the remote Alaskan Interior. The trails used were parts of the Iditarod Trail system. The life-saving serum was delivered to Nome in a record-breaking 127.5 hours, without a single broken vial. Note that airplanes were not considered reliable in this life-or-death situation.
The Iditarod Race today makes a ceremonial start (with trucked in snow) in Anchorage, but the actual race starts in Palmer.
It is also nice to see that Alexander Baranof got his due credit for naming Resurrection Bay, as he was caught in this area by storms and suffered from a wrecked ship. The bay got it’s name from the date of the storms, which occurred on Easter Sunday, the day of Resurrection.
A Viking cruise ship was leaving Seward, heading west, through Kenai Fjords to the Pacific Ocean. There is only one cruise dock in Seward, and most passengers, upon debarking, transfer to the railroad for a short ride to Anchorage.
Travelling with the Schinglers 