Birthday Trip, Saturday, Part 3

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This afternoon we drove into Seward. Our first stop was the Alaska SeaLife Center. This is a really neat place. It has underwater viewing tanks so you can watch seals, sea lions, fish, and birds as they swim beneath the surface of the water. Greg was brave enough to touch a sea anemone and starfish in one of the tanks. The bird area was enclosed yet it allowed the birds to fly high and land on rock walls or dive into the water. It got a little noisy in there with all the]ose birds squawking! There was a nice observation deck off the back of the center that allowed you to really enjoy the setting against the ocean and mountains.

We left the center and checked into our hotel. For dinner, we decided to walk back downtown and eat at the Apollo restaurant. It was delicious! We had fried halibut, gigantic fried shrimp, scallops, and salmon with side dishes of fettuccine alfredo and garlic mashed potatoes. Yum.

When we left the restaurant, we decided to walk along the shore as we headed back to the hotel. This is an incredible walk. There were quite a few people camping out in RVs along the beach. The smell of wood smoke from the campfires, the gentle splash of the waves, and the gorgeous views of the mountains and ocean made it quite memorable.

At the harbor, there were several men on the fish deck cleaning the many fish of today's catch. We noticed something huge swimming beneath the deck. It was a large sea lion waiting for any scraps to fall into the water. He was rewarded for his patience with a large chunk of halibut. We headed back to the hotel to rest for tomorrow's adventures.