Rev. 07/09/01

Alaska & beyond - continued 7/7

Glenallen, AK to Seward

Leaving Glenallen, the road generally heads west.  The only wildlife I saw was a moose, ambling across the road. He'd disapeared into the timber long before I got there.

At one point the road made a very steep decent, and a glacier caught my eye.  Further down I drop off on a dirt road to take a picture -- marginal view.  A mile or so more and there was a turnoff with a great view.  It is Matanuska Glacier, flowing down from the icefields on the Chugach Mountains.

The weather improved as I got closer to Anchorage.

Anchorage was interesting.  There is an airport right in it, right on the east edge of town.

Heading south from Anchorage the road goes east right on the shore of Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet -- yep, the same Capt. Cook who rediscovered the Hawaiian Islands.  At Portage, the end of Turnagain Arm, the 1964 earthquake caused the land to drop 6 to 12 feet.  Hight tide flooded the town.  All that is left are a few collapsed buildings.  I'm going to try to get a picture of them on the way back. [I got it]

Driving down south to Seward the road crosses the Kenai Mountains with many great scenic views.

Seward was my destination.  My father, Thomas Phillip Graham was the minister of the Methodist Church there from 1925 to 1928.  My brother Chuck was born in Seward.

I drove out to Exit Glacier, just a few miles out of town.  It flows out of the Harding Ice Field on the top of the Kenai Mountains.  I read somewhere that after the group that first explored the Harding Icefield, finished, they chose to exit off of Exit Glacier -- hence its name.

Hiking up to as close to the face as allowed, I passed a sign about a half mile back that said that was where the face was in 1927 -- when my parents were living in Seward.  The picture taken from several miles away clearly shows the glacier flowing off the ice field.  Its impressive.

Maps

• 7/06/01 Glenallen, AK to Seward

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