Homeward Bound/Homer to Seward, AK Part 2 (7/5/2017)

Wednesday, July 5, 2017 (continued)
In Seward, we had lunch at the Seward Brewing Company.

We shared appetizers of sesame cauliflower, a garlic pretzel,
and spicy salmon tacos

After lunch, we started the Walking Tour. Seward is the "Mural Capital of Alaska."

Seaward Bound (2011, by J Pechuzal & L McElroy)

 Trail Blazers (2012, by Patrick Garley and Justin Spurlin)
(a Roadside America attraction), marking Mile 0 of the Iditarod Trail

It is also near the point where the Seward Highway meets Railway Avenue for its Mile 0.

The former Seward Depot (1917) was the "Gateway to Alaska" until
1964 when the Good Friday Earthquake destroyed the tracks

The Alaska Railroad met the ferries, and carried freight and passengers over the 470-mile route from Seward to Anchorage to Fairbanks. The current Seward Train Station is outside of downtown.

Founder's Monument, commemorating John Bellaine and his team of
railroad workers who arrived in 1903 and laid out the city

Mile Zero sign of the Iditarod Trail, or the Seward-to-Nome Trail

The Iditarod Trail was a composite of trails established by the Native Alaskan people, and was first mapped in 1908. It was used mainly by gold prospectors in the early 1900s, but gold fever petered out by World War I. In the winter of 1925, there was a diptheria outbreak in Nome, and life-saving serum was transported by sled dog teams 1,085 km/674 miles in 127 hours, from Nenana to Nome. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race commemorates the role of sled dogs in the settlement and development of Alaska.

The snazzy Seward Community Library and Museum (2013)

Former Government Cable Office (1905) was the telegraph office
connecting Seward to the rest of the USA, used until 1934
when radio communication was established

Log house (1942) on 5th Avenue

Postcards of the Past (1999, by Jennifer Headtke and& Jeannie Shirk) (KSS)

Mural (2016, by Byron Birdsall) to celebrate the National Parks Centennial

Lowell Creek Falls

Mural from Seward's sister city in Japan

St Peter's Episcopal Church (1905-1906) (KSS)

Van Gilder Hotel (1916 as an office building, a hotel in 1921),
the oldest surviving hotel in Seward

Liberty Theater (1944)

Seward Waterfront Skateboard Park

Mt Marathon Race climbing wall

Stewart House (1905), originally belonged to the treasurer of  the railroad

Former Lutheran Church (1916-1917)  

Seward Small Boat Harbor

Train Wreck, small businesses in refurbished Alaska Railroad cars

Benny Benson Memorial (a Roadside America attraction), to the
13-year old orphan who in 1926 submitted the winning design
for the Alaska Territorial flag, later to become the state flag

We did not arrive in Seward in time to take any boat tours, and had to settle for visiting the Alaska SeaLife Center to see local wildlife.

Alaska SeaLife Center (1998)

A Mergellus albellus/Smew pair

This Fratercula corniculata/Horned Puffin would not stay still!

Eumetopias jubatus/Stellar Sea Lion (KSS)

An orphaned Odobenus rosmarus divergens/Pacific Walrus calf

View from the SeaLife Center of Resurrection Bay

View from the SeaLife Center of the Chugach Mountains

Enteroctopus dofleini/Giant Pacific Octopus

We retraced our route on Seward Highway back to the Exit Glacier exit, to find our AirBnB lodgings at Abode Well.

Abode Well Room #14

Abode Well bathroom

We had dinner nearby at The Salmon Bake (2002) (KSS)

Inside The Salmon Bake

The Salmon Bake dinner included broiled red sockeye salmon with sautéed corn and a baked potato. Other side choices were baked beans and garlic butter rice.