Day 08 - 07/30 - Whittier to Anchorage
We arrived in Whittier before midnight last night on glass smooth seas. This morning's disembarkations started at 6:20am and continued every 10-15 minute until 10am. During that time several Alaska Rail Car tourist trains and a number of buses departed. Finally at 10:05 our group of about 160 was called and we made our way down to deck A and scanned off the Noordam one last time. We found our coach, C in our case) and took a tour of Whittier (5 minutes), and then waited in line for the 11am tunnel opening. Traveling from Whittier is on the hour and to Whittier is on the hour.
Whittier was a secret military port constructed during WWII. One can only get here by boat, light plane, or through the 2.5 mile long tunnel. When our time came we passed through the tunnel and a few minutes later we were at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The Center is used to provide a rehabilitation home for injured animals and they participate in breeding programs to re-establish animals in the wild. We took a slow drive through the grounds to get the lay of the land and then Jakob proceeded to be our tour guide to show us the grounds as he had been here in February while on a hockey tournament in Anchorage. They have all sorts of large and small animals here including brown and black bears, wolves, coyotes, an eagle, a few porcupines, several varieties of deer, musk ox, caribou, elk, and bison. It was a good stop and we got Jakob some Mac & Cheese for an early lunch.
We left the Center and continued our drive to the Alyeska Resort for a buffet sandwich lunch. With 160 people, the line was quite long. There should have been two serving lines. By the food was fresh and delicious and the cookies were huge! It was then a one hour drive to the Captain Cook Hotel where we had to take a couple loops around the downtown before we could secure a parking spot. We obtained our new key cards, received the warning that we would now have to purchase our meals, and we found our room. Jakob wanted to go swimming immediately, so Angela took him there while I reviewed our tour instructions and updated my blog. I also waited 1/2 hour for security to come reset the safe lock before re-requesting assistance. Apparently the staff is a bit busy.
Jakob did a FaceTime call with his family and had some pool time and then we watched a highlights TV program from America's Got Talent which was really good. We then retired around 10pm with no need for an early rise the next day.
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