Day 90-July 26, 2013

         This morning, as we kissed Anchorage goodbye (again), we drove along the waterway called Turnagain Arm. Its shoreline runs along the right side of the Seward Highway.  I believe it is one of the most beautiful stretches of highway in America.  You can stop at one of the viewing areas, like my favorite at Beluga Point.  If the tide is in, sometimes the Beluga whales let you know they are playing in the water.  If the tide is out, the sprawling four-mile-wide flats of Turnagain Arm seem to stretch like a prairie to the opposite shores of Cook Inlet.  Each turn along the highway reveals another scenic wonder.


Low-hanging clouds over Turnagain Arm
south of Anchorage, Alaska

          On the left side of the two-lane road, Chugach State Park's 3000-foot mountains jut up.  Dall sheep can sometimes be seen scaling the sheer rock walls.
          Turnagain Arm has the second highest tides in North America after the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.  At certain times, the tide can reach 40 feet and come in so quickly that they sometimes produce a wave known as a bore tide wave. 
          The bore tides are dangerous.  Because of the quicksand-like mudflats which makes up the beaches along Turnagain Arm, hikers and animals like moose, get stuck in the mud, and then the tide comes in so fast, they drown.
          Richard and I have been lucky enough to have seen the two bore tides in North America.  The one at Turnagain Arm and the Bay of Fundy.
          And the trip to Seward, we saw one moose on the roadside on our way to Seward.  I think Richard and I wore out the gang.  Brian and Samantha crashed in the van about an hour ago, and I just had Chase and Travis turn off their connections to the real world.  :-)

 

           This is Richard's favorite spot along the road next to Turnagain Arm.  There is a huge rock on the other side of the railroad track.  You can see some of it in the above picture.  He loves to tell the story of something he did a few years ago that could have gotten us killed.  Of course, he had too much fun with it to worry about something as stupid as dying.

          Anyway, a few years ago when we were here, we were headed south on this stretch of road.  As we approoached this spot, there was an older man taking pictures of a gal who held everyone's attention.  She was posing like a high-powered model.  As we got right next to them, Richard blasted our bus horn.  The girl was sure the train had her.  She jumped two feet in the air, then took off running.  The old man shook his fist at Richard.  I was screaming, "What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with you?"  Richard proudly announces that the old man looked like he was having too much fun.  Sour grapes.  Sour grapes. Sour grapes.

          As soon as we pulled into the camping space, Richard dragged out his trusty satellite dish and commenced to looking for a signal.  I took a handful of Tums and tired to stay out of his way.  He finally relented and put it away and plugged in the cable which is available here at the park.  Thank goodness it was time for Two and a Half Men or he would have still been out there declaring,"if we were on the other side of the campground it would work perfectly."

Until next time,
Dolores