Day 12 - Seward to Anchorage and home

We stopped for lunch at the Seaside Cafe. The food was excellent.
Chuck with bronze sled dog in Anchorage.
Sign in Seward commemorating the beginning of the Iditarod Trail. In 1910, the name Iditarod was given to the rough trail between Seward and Nome. In 1925, dog teams transported diphtheria serum to epidemic stricken Nome. The modern day Iditarod takes place between Anchorage and Nome. It normally takes about nine days to make the 1,100 mile journey by dog sled.

Downtown Anchorage

I bought a watercolor of this exact scene. It now hangs in my kitchen.

Drive-up coffee shop shaped like a cup

Railroad bridge outside Seward

Seaside Cafe in Hope, Alaska on the south shore of Turnagain Arm.

Our final day in Alaska was spent driving from Seward back up to Anchorage. We had originally planned on hiking up a stream around Seward to see the Salmon running but it was pouring rain. Both Chuck and I loved Seward best of everywhere we visited in Alaska. Seward is beautiful and the town is small and friendly.

On the way to Anchorage, we stopped in Hope, Alaska for lunch at the Seaside Cafe. Hope is a little off the beaten path. You might think with a name like Hope the founders of the town were optimists but actually the town was named after Percy Hope, a 17-year old prospector. Hope's heyday ended about 1890 when most residents left for the Klondike goldfields.

We did a little shopping in Anchorage and had a relaxed dinner. Our plane left for home at midnight. It was a wonderful, wonderful trip but we were ready to go home.