Saturday July 17

Seward was our destination today. We visited the Alaskan Sea Life Center. They do research and rehab for Alaskan Sea Life. They have large aquariums that you can view from below and from above. They also have a lot of displays to help you learn about Alaskan sea life and ecology. We saw a lot of different types of fish that live in the cold waters in this area, both fresh and salt water species. Also we saw sea lions and harbor seals. They had one aquarium that had different types of water birds living overhead in an area that had a roof and screen wire on the sides. It was fun to watch them above the water as they swam, set on nests, and dove into the water. Then when we went below you could see them diving down for food. Some types like the Puffin flapped their wings like they were flying under water to propel themselves. It was amazing. We saw several species we had never seen before like the puffin, crown puffin, and eiders. This was a neat place to visit.
We then took O for a long walk around town on a cool damp day. Then drove for a while until I got really sleepy. I stopped at a pull off and took a nap. After that we continued on until we stopped for the night at a pull off outside of Palmer.
On the way off of the Kenai we came through that stretch outside of Anchorage for about 60 miles that I consider the prettiest drive we have made. Where the road winds through the mountain pass and along side of Cook Inlet at the same time. Steep mountains with trees and grass part way up and patches of snow. There is also a couple of glaciers along the way. Then Cook Inlet with mountains beyond it. The wow factor is very high.
We drove a total of 187 miles today. The motor home continues to get between 8 and 8.5 miles per gallon for the last several tank fulls. That is a big help as I had estimated 7.5 or so. Gas in Anchorage is $3.33, on the Kenai it was $3.69.