Valerie’s parents have been looking for smoked salmon this entire trip. Fortunately, one of the fish shops in Seward pointed us to T-N-T Custom Smoke & Processing near Exit Glacier Road. We had stopped by T-N-T a couple days ago and were very happy with the high quality and relatively low price of their smoked salmon. Unfortunately, at the time, they didn’t have any cans of smoked salmon in stock. Luckily, they found some for us and we stopped by in the morning and picked up several cans and a few vacuum-sealed packages of smoked fish.

Afterward, we packed up the rental car, dumped the RV for the last time, said our goodbyes, and split up from Valerie’s parents. We ate lunch at Chinooks at the small boat harbor before leaving town. Their fish was delicious.

A couple days ago, we stopped at the Safeway in Seward and I couldn’t help but ogle the baked goods, but Valerie convinced me not to buy any. Later, Valerie discovered online that the baked goods at the Seward Safeway are better than an average Safeway, so we went back and loaded up for our drive to Homer.

We’re staying at the Majestic View Bed & Breakfast up the hill in Homer. It’s a bit of a drive up the hill from Old Town Homer or Homer Spit, but offers great views of the bay and the spit.

For dinner, we ate at Two Sisters Bakery in Old Town. Their kimchi pancake (made with homemade kimchi) was surprisingly tasty. Unfortunately, they were out of their famous sticky buns. We’ll need to come back another day.

In the morning, Valerie’s parents boarded a cruise of the Kenai Fjords. Valerie and I slept in and then couldn’t decide what to do. At the last minute, Valerie decided that she too wanted to take a cruise, and we quickly walked to the small boat harbor and boarded a shorter cruise of Resurrection Bay. During the cruise, we saw a few glaciers, some orcas, a humpback whale, and many birds, including a couple eagles. (Valerie says she saw a flying puffin.) At the outer edge of the bay, the water was very choppy and the boat rocked enough to knock all of the stuff off of our table. Overall, I think the cruise of Prince William Sound was more enjoyable because of the calmer waters.

We returned to port about an hour before Valerie’s parents. Their cruise was much more rocky than ours and Valerie’s mom became quite seasick. Tomorrow, Valerie and I are splitting up from Valerie’s parents. They are driving the RV to Anchorage to return it to Great Alaskan Holidays while we will be driving the rental car west to Homer.

Today, we visited to Exit Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park. Exit Glacier is the only part of the park publicly accessible by road. After listening to a brief historical talk by one of the rangers, we took a hike up to the edge of the glacier. Due to safety concerns, we were not allowed to walk up to the glacier’s edge, but rather to a fence about 70 feet away. As we approached the fence, a very friendly park volunteer talked about the glacier and how it has changed during his lifetime.

After our hike, we drove back to Seward and ate a late lunch at Ray’s Waterfront near the small boat harbor. Originally, we planned to visit the Alaska SeaLife Center earlier in the day, but Valerie’s dad discovered that admission was half-off after 8pm, so we rested in the RV until the appointed time. The Alaska SeaLife Center was a great opportunity to see the marine animals close up. Valerie really liked the sea bird exhibit (mostly because of the puffins). The exhibit had both an above ground and below ground viewing area so she could watch the puffins waddle on land and dive below the surface of the water. While Valerie was looking at puffins, I admired some harbor seals that were napping in their enclosure.

In the morning, we drove the car to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center just a few miles from our campsite in Portage. Visitors can either walk or drive around the center. During our walk, we saw musk oxen, bison, elk, moose, a lynx, a porcupine, a black bear, and three brown bears. It was interesting to be able to see these animals up close without them being afraid and running away from us (as they might in the wild).

After a quick lunch of tuna sandwiches, we drove to Seward, AK. We are camping at the Resurrection Bay beachfront campground operated by the city of Seward. The site offers water and electrical hookups, with a dump station available offsite. Unfortunately, many of the camp sites are sloped downward toward the bay, making it difficult to level an RV. After several unsuccessful and one successful leveling attempt, we walked to the harbor front to scope out local restaurants that we could eat lunch at tomorrow.

Today, we took a boat cruise of Prince William Sound to see glaciers! We left the RV at the campground and drove the rental car to Whittier, AK. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel from Portage to Whittier is only open 15 minutes in each direction per hour and costs $12 for cars and $35 for RVs 28 feet or longer. After making our way through the tunnel, we parked the car, checked in for our cruise, and walked around Whittier until boarding time. Whittier is a small town, so walking around the harbor front only took about half an hour.

The cruise with Major Marine Tours was great. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and we viewed several glaciers (although sadly no glacier calving). The onboard ranger was very knowledgable and the $19/person prime rib and salmon buffet was excellent. After the tour, we were tired so we headed back to the RV park to rest. We might stop by the nearby wildlife center or Forest Service visitor center tomorrow morning before heading to Seward.

We finally made it to Anchorage! Our first stop in the city was at the airport to pick up a rental car. After a bit of a delay caused by a glitch in the rental car company’s computer system, Valerie and I rejoined Valerie’s parents at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Anchorage. Valerie’s mom was very happy to return some of the unused items that we had purchased from other Wal-Marts earlier in our trip.

After a quick lunch from the nearby Pizza Hut, we headed to our campsite: Portage Valley RV Park in Portage, AK. Just a short drive from the tunnel to Whittier, this conveniently located campground offers water and electrical hookups, showers, and portable toilets. The showers were great; the portable toilets were less great.

The Tok Cutoff Road from Tok to the Richardson Highway was probably the bumpiest highway we’ve driven on in Alaska. It seemed like several sections of the road were in the process of being resurfaced. After turning off, it was mostly smooth sailing to Glennallen, followed by a long stretch of construction on the way to Tolsona.

Our campsite was the Tolsona Wilderness Campground near Glennallen, AK. This is a fairly rustic campsite that only accepts cash. (This is the first campsite we’ve stayed at that did not accept credit card!) The showers were great and only cost a quarter for 5 minutes. We took a short hike around the campsite where we spotted some moose tracks. Afterward, we ate dinner at a restaurant in the nearby Tolsona Lake Resort Motel & Cafe. The portions were large and the food was surprisingly tasty.