Alaska Part VIII

Wednesday - Sea kayaking in Resurrection Bay

We woke up Wednesday at about 6 am. Apparently that was too late.
After I davened, ate, and we got all our stuff together, it was about 7:30 am. We were supposed to be there by 7:30. Good thing "there" was really close to "here". We rushed rushed, drove in the wrong direction, and rushed back and finally made it there. Apparently we didn't slow them at all. We signed waivers, got into PFDs, jumped in a van smelling of wet dog, and headed down to the shore. They got us down there to a beach with black sand and water that didn't smell or taste very salty, but looked very white. It was glacial water.

As they were unloading the kayaks (or "qayaq" if you want to be all authentic Alaskan), we saw some sea otters playing in the water. (The picture isn't mine, but it's in the same waters). They were kinda cute from what I could see.
We got brief instructions on how to kayak, and headed out in a two-person craft along with another pair. Ours had arctic_alpine in the rear (steering) and me in the front. IT was pretty cool. We saw some white circles in the trees which we were told were bald eagles and saw an eagle nest, too, with a young one in there! (Aren't eagle nests called "rooks" or "aeries"?) Anyway, after a while of kayaking, we get out to this great waterfall, have a look around, eat some snacks, learn about fiddlehead ferns which apparently taste great sautéed with garlic and olive oil (or a quick google search will yield MANY more complex recipes), but you should inspect them for bugs cuz they are tightly-wound. Then we picked up a banana peel someone left, and headed back in. This time I was in back. It's really nice to be out floating so low to the water level but completely dry. I will do it again soon in DC or Chesapeake Bay. The weather was perfect (I was scared it would rain and we'd have to kayak soaked). We hung out for a bit, considered visiting the Seward Sea Life Center but decided not to, and left Seward.
Oh, and we got a parking ticket on our way out of town. Arg...
Anyway, about this time, I noticed that the car was starting to smell like mold. arctic_alpine thought that it was a pair of jeans she wore incessantly in Seattle including on Shabbat during a downpour. Maybe. There was something very moldy in the car and I was very concerned we'd get in trouble for it. This will be continued later.
So we headed up Seward Highway in a moldy-smelling car. arctic_alpine offered to drive, and I was down since I had about 4 hours of sleep, but eventually we switched off and I drove the rest. We pulled over to eat lunch at what we thought would be a nice forest, but turned into a mosquito- and blackfly-infested wood. Not fun. I refused bug spray until arctic_alpine noticed about 5 or 6 crawling around on my face and "highly recommended" that I spray myself. Okay. Anyway, we finished our lunch in the car and headed up to Anchorage.