Very early on Sunday morning we began the two and a half hour drive to Seward Alaska for our 7 hour whale watching and glacier cruise. Everyone we had spoken to who had been on this cruise raved about it and in retrospect I believe that they all must have gone on days that were sunny with calm seas. Sunday started out as overcast and by the time we reached Seward there was an occasional drizzle.
When we boarded the boat the seas were calm. BUT all that was about to change. We headed out of the protected bay which keeps the waters near Seward calm, toward the open ocean and two things changed, the sea became much rougher and the weather changed to a steady downpour.
Many passengers including some in our group began to feel queasy and very seasick, and needless to say, the bags that they handed out came in very handy. By the time we actually sighted whales and sea otters and glaciers, and bald eagles and sea lions and puffins, most people were either too seasick or too wet from the rain on the viewing decks to really enjoy the experience. And this was in the first hour of seven in total!
We all experienced this in varying degrees other than Fran who felt nothing at all....it was like the proverbial walk in the park for her. She even participated in the educational talks that the park ranger aboard the boat was giving to the "junior rangers"!
We did manage to see all those things and get quite close to two glaciers and get reasonably good pictures but we learned that this kind of excursion should only be booked at the last minute after checking the weather and the conditions at sea. Well, traveling is an ongoing learning experience.....
When we returned to shore wet and tired, we still had a two and a half hour drive back to Anchorage. Upon our arrival at the hotel we all had hot soup and hot Meal Mart TV dinners which were remarkably good.
Btw, the rabbi's wedding simcha hit the front page of the Sunday edition of the Anchorage Daily News and was billed as the first "hassidic wedding in alaska" ....you might be able to see pictures at www.adn.com....I will try to find the link and send it out.
With the weather forecast being similar for Monday, we all decided to sleep in on Monday, finish packing and have a relatively leisurely day.
Monday was rainy and overcast again. We had a late breakfast, and went to see the salmon swimming upstream but apparently because of very high tides the night before, the salmon decided not to swim on Monday. Disappointing!
We then drove to the Native Heritage Center. Alaska has many different Indian and native tribes and Eskimos. This center was built to give the visitor some insight to their life, their culture and their homes. We spent a few hours there and while the place could use some guidance on how to professionally portray their customs and culture, it was interesting.
In the afternoon after lunch, we decided to go downtown and visit the famous David Green furrier store....the store owned by the family that we had visited on Shabbat. Their motto is " if you do not know furs, then know your furrier " !
They are listed in all the tourist guides and have been in business at this location for 90 years. In the early years the founders ( parents and grandparents of the people who now run the business) would go out into the wilds and meet with the native tribes to purchase the pelts from which they would craft their coats, hats, etc. Today they go to all the major auctions and trade fairs and judging from what we saw, they are running quite a major concern.
We met David and his wife Shani (she is from New York) as well as Debbie whose house we visited on Shabbat. They showed us their fur vault (there must have been one thousand coats in stock) and while we are not experts in the field, we were all very impressed with the workmanship and sense of style that they have. As I might have written in an earlier post, the family is a major supporter of all things jewish in alaska, and especially the Chabad center. While we had not intended on making any purchases, we ended up buying a few items which as David Green said was our way of "supporting the local synagogue :-) " !!!!!
They also filled us in on many interesting facts about the Jewish community in Alaska, the fact that there are only a handful of shomer Shabbat families, how intermarriage is rampant, and the difficulties of being Jewish way up north where you have little daylight in the winter and long periods of sunshine in the summer.
From there we went to visit the family's other enterprise in town, the Polar Bear Shop which they call the "tchotchke" shop. They have the largest supply of tourist type t shirts, hats, chocolates, salmon and small gift items in Alaska. They have two shops downtown and we later discovered that they have a number of outlets at the international airport as well. We all stocked up on some gift items and returned to the hotel for a final packing and our drive to the airport.
This has been a very wonderful trip, a chance to hang out with close friends, a chance to see a remote part of the world, a chance to experience cruising, and a chance to eat tons of salmon....double wrapped, of course. It was also an opportunity to interact with one of the most remote Jewish communities in the world that seems to be doing quite well because of the dedication of the Chabad family that is literally moser nefesh to be there and the support of a few dedicated families that could just as easily be living in a large thriving jewish community.
We were warned that the weather in Alaska could be a potential problem because even though it is not real cold in Alaska in the summer, it rains a lot and that could ruin many excursions that we had planned. Well, other than the final two days, the weather was amazing. Sunny, warm,with zero humidity. A great way to really appreciate G-d's beautiful creation, the amazing vistas and the unique wildlife that you do not see anywhere else.
We had a great time and we all agreed that the way to sum up the trip in one word was the word that Josh used at the beginning of the trip, which was used repeatedly throughout the trip...it was most "bekovodik" ....not sure how to translate that other than we had a great time.
In a few hours we will be back in Toronto, but the memories and the scenery and the camaraderie will linger on...
All the best and thanks for following us....
Fran and David
Josh and Liz
Shabsie and Ruthie
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