In this episode, we embark on our unforgettable 2-day journey through Kenai Fjords National Park, one of Alaska’s most awe-inspiring landscapes. After spending the first night in Anchorage and arriving in Seward to kick off Day 1 with scenic stops and a glacier hike, Day 2 dives even deeper into the heart of the park’s raw, untouched wilderness by boat.

Today’s adventure takes you beyond the land trails and onto the water with a breathtaking fjord cruise into the Northwestern Fjord. You’ll glide past towering sea cliffs, drift among icebergs, and witness up-close calving glacier experiences that truly showcase why this park is a gem of the Alaskan coast. Expect to see puffins, sea otters, harbor seals, porpoises, & whales in their natural habitat. We also give you the inside scoop on where to eat in Seward, tips on timing your cruise to avoid crowds, and advice on how to wrap up your Kenai Fjords trip on a high note. With just two days to explore, we’ve packed this itinerary with the best the park has to offer without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.

Highlights we cover:

• How to get to Kenai Fjords National Park from Anchorage
• Where to eat & drink in Seward: Tidewater Taphouse & Stoney Creek BrewHouse, 
• Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center
• Harding Icefield Trail
• Northwestern Fjord Cruise with Major Marine Tours including wildlife sightings and landscapes like Spire’s Cove, Cataract Cove, and 3 Tidewater Glaciers 

If you want to take this exact trip, you can download our Kenai Fjords 2 day itinerary for travel tips, restaurant and hotel recommendations, links to every activity we booked, packing list, and a day by day itinerary for you to follow.

Our top recommendations for hotels in Seward:

• Harbor 360 Hotel 
• Breeze Inn

Kenai Fjords Packing List:

• Packable backpack 
• Crampons 
• Hiking Poles
• Dramamine
• Power Bank

Explore our Kenai Fjords Viator Experiences for tours, excursions, and even those we wished we had time for!

Looking for cheap flights to Alaska? Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and get flight deals sent straight to your inbox. Use promo code TS10 to save $10 off your first year. Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave us a review if you love adventure travel as much as we do!

Continue you Alaska adventures with our other Alaska podcast episodes.

Kenai Fjords Weekend – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, squaddies.

Welcome to this week’s episode of The Travel Squad Podcast.

Today we’re taking you to the beautiful, majestic Key Knife Yards National Park in Alaska.

0:54

Alaska has eight national parks, and this is our very first one that we visited.

We do eventually plan to visit all 8, but we’ll likely break it up into two national parks each trip.

So probably about four trips to complete all of Alaska’s national parks.

1:09

I actually have been here, but when I was here, just like when I went to Redwood National Parks and I went to Fern Canyon Hike, I didn’t realize I was in such an amazing National Park.

I didn’t appreciate it.

I was like 18, visiting family who lived up in Alaska.

1:26

Blogs weren’t a thing, you know, Internet wasn’t a thing.

So I didn’t know what I had right in front of me.

So I’m excited to hear about it.

I would love to go back now in my more mature age and appreciate it.

So let’s hear it.

Tell me a little bit about what it is.

So Kenai Fjords National Park is located on the southern coast of Alaska near the town of Seward.

1:46

So it’s known for its stunning coastal fjords.

And if you don’t know what a fjord is, it’s basically like long, narrow inlets that are deep that were carved by glaciers historically, right, ’cause glaciers and all that solid ice, it carves rocks.

So it creates these inlets and fjords.

2:02

It’s known for the tidewater glaciers, dramatic landscapes that are shaped by the ice and snow, and the park protects the Harding Ice Field, which is one of the largest ice fields in the United States.

It has over 40 glaciers that flow from it, and wildlife is abundant here.

2:19

You’re going to find everything that you would expect to see animal wise on land with bears, moose, etcetera.

And then when you get out onto the water, you’re going to be seen whales, sea otters, puffins, bald eagles.

Obviously on water and land for the bald eagles, you’re going to be seeing them fly.

2:34

But wildlife is abundant here, and you’re just going to have that beautiful, majestic Alaskan landscape.

Why don’t you start us off with some tips for visiting Kenai Fjords National Park, because I’m sure we have some.

Yeah.

So Alaska is kind of an expensive destination.

2:50

And so earlier in the year, I had opened an Alaska Airlines credit card.

And with the points that I earned from the bonus opening up the card, I was able to pay for all of the major flights with points.

And that saved a ton on cost.

3:06

Hundreds of dollars were saved because I used the points from opening that credit card.

So if that’s an option for you squaddies and you’re trying to get to Alaska, I would highly recommend it.

Another good tip is to rent a car from Anchorage or take the bus or train.

So realistically, to get to the town of Seward, which is home base for Key Knife Yards National Park, Anchorage is more than likely going to be the Alaskan city that you get to.

3:30

It’s going to be only a short 2 1/2 hour drive if you do that bus.

Of course, because a bus is a bus, it’ll take a little bit longer, but you could also go the scenic route and take a train over there.

So I wouldn’t say that once you get to SWORD itself, you do need a car necessarily.

3:46

It would be nice to have, but everything is so close and small and most of the National Park realistically is going to be seen on the water anyway.

But either one of those three options is going to be good.

Just get to your home base Anchorage, AK in order to get to SWORD.

Question for you, I immediately think of train for not wanting to drive in the snow.

4:07

You know it’s Alaska so it’s no you went in summer, that wasn’t an issue.

Would you even visit key knife yards in the winter?

Well, the boats don’t operate in the winter, so you wouldn’t really be able to go out on the water and see the wildlife that we saw during that time.

4:22

If you were to visit in winter, you would be snowshoeing, snowmobiling.

It would be a different experience in the park.

And there’s a lot of remote area around Seward, but the actual land portion that you could get to of Key Knife Yards National Park is rather small.

Not to say that there’s not a good area, but like there’s only two or three hikes that you can do.

4:42

There’s one Rd. in one Rd. out.

It’s AU turned out and back, right.

So there’s winter stuff to do in the area.

But I would realistically say that you should be going late spring and summer.

That way you can go ahead and experience the water portion as well as the land portion.

4:58

But of course, if you loved it so much, want to go back and in the winter, do those winter activities, great.

But I don’t think that’s going to be really conducive to seeing the National Park.

Jamal had said, you know, most of the National Park can be seen best by boat and so you do want to book a Key Knife Yards National Park boat tour in advance because most of the park is inaccessible by land.

5:19

It’s the best way to experience the park.

Usually they start running the boats in late May and they typically run them through September and they have all types of different excursions.

They have 4 hour ones, 678 hour ones, they have whale watchings ones specifically.

5:36

So you can really pick what you want to see and pick that tour that is best for you.

We will link in the show notes where to book the boat tours and we’ll link the ones that we did that we liked.

And just going back to Brittany’s point, when I was saying late spring, she was saying that the boats start operating kind of mid-May.

5:54

That’s what I’m referring to as mid spring going on into summer here.

Spring, if we’re talking, you know, April, March, no, that’s going to be a no go for this area.

If you are planning to do some hiking in the park, make sure to pack hiking shoes and to dress in layers.

It could be sunny, it could be raining, it could be snowing.

6:11

You don’t know what you’re going to get out here, so make sure you’re packing those layers.

And last but not least, maybe one of the most important things in terms of safety is if you plan on hiking, bring bear spray.

Now, when I say bring bear spray, I’m talking into the park.

You really can’t fly with bear spray or anything like that.

6:29

So you would have to pick it up at location.

But lots of people who come here and do go hiking will buy it.

Since you can’t fly with it, they have no place to put it.

They leave it at their hotels.

So a lot of hotels will actually have free bear spray potentially available.

So just ask your hotel front desk if they have any leftovers.

6:48

That way you don’t have to buy any.

But you should realistically take bear spray with you when you go hiking because this is Alaska.

Bears are abundant.

You’re going to have black bears and Grizzlies.

Grizzlies are the ones you really want to be most worried about and why you would want to have it.

Of course for black bears too, potentially in worst case scenario.

7:05

But it’s those Grizzlies that get aggressive and they are in this area.

Squaddies, we are going to have an itinerary on this Alaska trip that includes Key Knife Yards National Park and everything that we’re going to talk about in this episode.

It will be LinkedIn the show notes, as well as always available on shoptravelsquad.com.

7:23

So let’s dive right into it.

We flew out in late May.

We left on a Thursday.

It was actually May 29th.

So we’re leaving here from San Diego to Anchorage, AK.

Yeah, so we went to the Chase Sapphire Lounge.

If you haven’t been to a Chase Sapphire Lounge, highly recommend getting a travel card that allows you to get into it because they are fire.

7:44

I know Kim’s been to some in Philly, Boston, we’ve been to some in New York.

Amazing.

Well, so they finally just opened the one here in San Diego, the Chase Sapphire Lounge, and it’s in term Terminal 2, which is a terminal that we mostly do not fly out of because we’re out of Terminal 1 where Southwest is.

7:59

So this is our first time at opportunity being able to use it.

So we’re really excited about that.

It was an early morning flight, so of course they had the breakfast food options out, which were good, but I’ve also heard that the lunch 1 is better.

So I’m really excited to get back in here.

8:14

But yeah, we started off our trip enjoying our time, nice and relaxed, eating some good food and drinks in the Chase Sapphire Lounge.

But our flight was from San Diego to Anchorage with a stopover in Seattle in between because Alaska Airlines main hub on the Contiguous 48 is going to be in Seattle, WA.

8:34

So we had a little brief stop in Seattle before we continued on to Anchorage.

And Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city and is nestled between the Chugach Mountains and the waters of the Cook Inlet.

The Cook Inlet actually brings in beluga whales, believe it or not.

We didn’t see any, but I would have loved to see them.

8:51

I didn’t realize that because at some point when you’re taking the drive from Anchorage to Seward, you will have a long stretch where the road is following parallel to the inlet.

The train is also following parallel to the inlet.

And by the way, when we were here on that portion of the drive, we saw so many bald eagles just hanging out in the water.

9:09

I really thought it was actually shallow.

But the further out you go and it gets deep.

And on our way back, we stopped just for a quick little photo op.

And that’s when I realized, Oh my gosh, beluga whales coming here.

Because where we stopped actually had a sign saying like, don’t harass the beluga whales.

And I was like, I expect the belugas to be much more north like in the Arctic, not necessarily in the southern waters of Alaska.

9:30

So I thought that was pretty cool.

Yeah, Anchorage also has stunning natural surroundings.

When we landed in the airport and we started driving immediately, you can just see all of the mountains and it’s just so beautiful.

That has a lot of access to hiking, wildlife viewing, scenic drives.

You can see moose, bald eagles, like Jamal said.

9:47

And then in the winter, you can see Northern Lights.

And Anchorage is a gateway to major destinations like Kenai Fuel or Denali National Park, so it’s a great city to fly into as a base.

Once we landed, we got our rental car because we were going to be driving to Seward, but we were hungry.

10:04

We landed in around the 7:00 hour.

And so we decided that we were going to stay overnight in Anchorage.

And we knew this in advance and we knew that we wanted to grab dinner.

We had a few different dinner options, but we decided to do dinner at Whiskey and Ramen.

And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

10:20

It was some of the best ramen I’ve had.

Oh, I’m not over exaggerating like quite honestly, I’m not going to sit here and say the best ramen that I haven’t had is in Japan because it was and not every time I had ramen in Japan because IA crap ton of ramen when we were in Japan, but like really, really good.

10:38

And so here when we were at whiskey and ramen like I was eating, I was like, oh man, this is better than some of the ramen that we had in Japan, like really, really high up there.

Super impressive.

We got a dripping noodle ramen, which is interesting because they give it to you with the noodles on the side and you’re supposed to like dip it in the broth.

10:57

You can choose to eat it that way.

We realistically dumped it in.

It’s just a little stylization choice that they had.

And then I ended up getting the business Lounge, which is a Tantaman broth.

And Oh my gosh, that one was so good.

It had a little bit of peanut butter in it to give you that peanut flavor.

11:13

It was almost like a hybrid between a Thai soup and a Japanese ramen, just melded together really well.

Like this place was really good.

Great restaurant, really awesome aesthetic on the inside.

Really good dinner.

And then while we were walking to find whisking rum and we had also passed a ice cream shop called Wild Scoops and they were advertising obviously ice cream, but with a Baked Alaska cone, which is a waffle cone with the ice cream in it topped with a marshmallow fluff that’s torched.

11:43

And Oh my gosh, I got it with like an ice cream that was very similar to a rocky road.

So that marshmallow that’s kind of like already in it with like chocolate was so good.

Jamal and I split that and I would do that again, too.

And then after we just filled our stomachs and satisfied ourselves, we knew we were going to have an early morning wake up for the drive to sword.

12:02

So we checked into our hotel.

What’s next?

So the next day was going to be our big day to drive to Seward.

It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there.

Seward is a charming coastal town that’s on the shores of Resurrection Bay in southern Alaska.

12:18

Jamal has said it earlier.

It’s a gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park and has amazing scenery and so much to offer in marine wildlife.

Jamal had also said we had stopped to see the bald eagles along the drive.

That was this day as well.

It was lightly raining by the time we arrived to Key Knife Yards, and again we had gone in late May.

12:39

The locals though, that we talked to says that it pretty much rains quite a bit, receives 80 to 150 inches of rain annually and that actually makes it a temperate rainforest.

And so when we first arrived in Seward again, we left around 8.

12:55

By the time we got there, 10/30, 10:45, Brittany had done some research and she really wanted to get coffee at a coffee house called Resurrect Art Coffee House.

And this is in a church or a previous church.

It was originally built in 1916 by the United Methodist Church.

13:12

Then later on in the 1940s, they sold it to the Lutheran Church.

Then eventually they sold it to a local family that turned it into a coffee house and art gallery.

So it has a storied history here in sewer, but nevertheless, the unique aspect of it that like when you’re in there, you’re getting the coffee.

13:28

You could tell that you’re in an old church art gallery.

They had really good coffee as well.

We got a Snickers latte so this is a very popular spot to go in sword.

When we arrived I think we honestly waited like 10-15 minutes to even just place our orders.

13:43

There is a big line here so this is a popular spot to go and usually popular spots to go don’t live up to the hype.

I really felt like my Snickers latte was really good.

In fairness, I didn’t try anything else, but they have pastries and all the sort of little small bites that you would expect to have in a coffee house also.

14:02

And it is also still running as a little art gallery.

So while we were waiting, I was just looking around at the art and all of the little things that they sell as well.

So super cute stop.

I would recommend it.

But Jamal and I were going to be doing a hike so we wanted to get some real food in us.

So we went to Firebrand BBQ, which is a Texas style barbecue in Alaska.

14:22

And we decided to get the loaded baked potato which came with beans, brisket, sour cream cheese.

Really good.

Filled us up before our hike.

I wish we actually had more of this in Texas.

That sounds really good.

Time we actually had a baked potato, BBQ hybrid mix thing like this that Bernie’s talking about was when we were in Asheville, NC, and we’ve never seen it anywhere else.

14:44

It was so good and we saw it when we were here.

We’re like, Oh yeah, this is going to be perfect for us.

It’s going to give us that starch, the meat, the beans, everything like that to really fill us up for the hike because we knew we were going to have a long 1.

So before we went to the hotel, we went to the visitor center.

15:01

So the visitor center is actually in the town of Seward.

It’s not actually when you get to the National Park, that small portion that is available on land, it’s in the city center of Seward.

So we went in there, checked it out.

We always are trying to find our ornament.

But more importantly, we were really checking on the hike that we were going to be doing and wanted to talk to the Park Rangers that were in there because the hike that we wanted to do was going to be 8 miles round trip.

15:28

But we know this early in summer that the trail can be closed because there’s still isn’t a lot of give at a certain elevation because of the snow.

So they advised us like, yeah, you could get to this point, but then you’re going to have to turn around.

So we’re just more so checking in on the hike.

15:45

And we look to see if they had any cool National Park ornaments available.

We didn’t find one that we were particularly drawn to there, but there are a lot of shops in this area.

So we did find a shop that did have a Key Knife Yards National Park ornament.

So we did purchase one of those and then we went to our hotel.

16:02

Before we go on to the hotel, do you recall the name of the shop you went into where that ornament was found?

I know a lot of our squaddies also like to collect ornaments and when we posted on our Instagram they always ask, so do you?

Do you recall by chance?

I don’t recall the name, but if you happen to make your way to Kenai Fjords National Park and are in Seward at the visitor center, when you exit the visitor center, you go to the right, there’s a couple shops.

16:29

It’s was like the second one over.

So everything is really small and congregated.

So it’s not like, oh, you’re going to really have to go searching far and wide to find it.

If you just hop through all the shops in that vicinity, which you can very easily just make your right pick.

But off the top of my head, I don’t remember the name of the the store.

16:46

OK.

That hopefully will send him on a little scavenger hunt.

Go to the visitor center, take a right 2 doors down.

Yeah, I’m sure they’ll find it.

The right is when you exit the visitor center, by the way, not when you’re looking at it going in, just FYI.

But from there, we went to check into our hotel.

17:03

It was a little too early for us to check in, but we wanted to leave our luggage there.

And I had called in advance to see if they were a location that actually would allow us to borrow bear spray or rent it.

And they said that they did have some bear spray to borrow, so we checked in.

And you said this was the breeze in, right?

17:21

Yes, the breeze in.

That’s awesome.

Free bear spray.

Woo.

Yeah, yeah.

I did do some research and I found a spot in town in case that we couldn’t rent it, that we could rent it from the store instead.

And what was that store?

It was called like the Seward Outdoor shop.

17:39

Backup plan if your hotel doesn’t have any left.

Yeah.

So definitely call your hotel and see if they have any available.

If you’re not really doing the trail that we’re going to talk about, you probably don’t really need it unless you’re doing some major hikes.

But if you’re just doing like a hike around the visitor center, they have like a really short paved like trail, you probably don’t need it there.

17:58

You just.

Need it.

You know, my dad used to live in Alaska and bears would come into his front yard.

So you really never know out here in these parts.

And just a little correction, Brittany said.

If you do the hike around the visitor center, again, the visitor center isn’t sort of what I think she means is in the area of the parking lot, which is the main parking lot where they have the little, we’re off to the 2-3 hikes that I was talking about.

18:19

There’s a smaller trail there, you’re right.

But I also see Brittany’s point of view too.

But they’re everywhere.

But if you get in there deep, then that’s probably where you’re going to really for sure want to have it.

But yeah, you never know in Alaska.

Yes, you never know and if you don’t have bear spray, you couldn’t find it for whatever reason.

18:36

Maybe they’re sold out.

Another good tip when you’re out there in the wilderness is to make noise.

So walk with bells or clap or even play music.

I know some people don’t like that, but if you’re not around others and play music, music because that will keep the Bears less likely from coming up to you.

Yeah, because they’ll either be scared or move away from the noise.

18:53

Or at least if they don’t move, they’re aware of you.

Because what really startles the bears the most that prompt attacks is the fact that you startle them and they see you as a threat.

So very good tip, Kim.

Squatty’s I want to take a quick moment to plead for your support.

We would love, if you love our show, to go on over to Apple Podcasts.

19:14

Leave us a review.

Write about what you like about it and send us that screenshot as a way of saying thank you so, so much for listening.

We will send you a half off itinerary promo code so you can get half off any itinerary you wish, including the Kenai Fords National Park that we’re talking about now.

19:30

So after we checked into the hotel and had our BBQ, we were ready to go to Key Knife Yards National Park.

As we’re driving in, it takes about 30 minutes.

We passed the entrance sign.

We stopped there, took a few pictures, but what we were really looking to do was a hike called the Harding Ice Field Trail.

19:49

Jamal mentioned earlier.

It’s about 8.6 miles, has over 3000 feet in elevation gain, but because of the snowpack this year, it had not melted yet by this point.

It usually does not fully melt to be fully accessible until like mid-july at some point.

20:06

So we were able to get to a certain point called Marmot Meadows and then have to turn around there because the snow was too deep to continue.

But this hike is amazing.

The Harding Ice Field is a massive sheet of ice covering over 700 square miles on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

20:24

It’s one of the largest ice field.

In the United States and it sources 40 glaciers, including Exit Glacier, which is the glacier that we would have use of on this trail.

So when we talk about the Harding Ice Field, just imagine a giant block of ice at the top of the mountains, right?

20:40

And it’s not like a block, like it’s square, but of course, it’s settled to the shape of the mountain.

And it’s so large and vast, as Brittany was saying, like it’s when it gets to the edges of the mountains, down the slopes, that it creates these glaciers.

So all these glaciers come from this one block of ice that you see.

20:56

So this trail is supposed to give you a really good view of the glacier.

You can hike up to it.

There is another hike here in this area called the Exit Glacier View and Overlook.

That’s a 2.2 mile trail, only has about 300 feet elevation.

So this would be a good one if you don’t really want to do a strenuous hike.

21:14

It will give you a view of the glacier, but not really up close as we got.

We got pretty close by the time we got to the turn around point as Brittany had mentioned, but I could only imagine how much more close and more beautiful the view would be if you’re able to actually complete it when all the snow is gone.

21:31

When we went, there was hardly anyone on the Harding Ice Field Trail, so we started off in a beautiful forest.

It was kind of drizzling at this point.

And then at some point it did stop and we started to slowly ascend up and eventually we started to make it into a little bit of slush, a little bit of snow.

21:51

And then at another point, as we continue to up, we got into a lot to snow.

So by the time we got to Marmot Meadows, it was completely white up there.

Everything you looked at was white.

There’s a ton of snow around.

The mountains are all covered with snow.

22:06

It’s just so beautiful and ingested.

You look like you’re in a winter Wonderland going up there.

I remember seeing your posts as I’m sitting here in Austin where it’s almost 100° and I’m seeing your videos live of you there bundled up in jackets and feenies.

And I’m like, why?

22:22

I wasn’t expecting it to be that extreme at this time that.

Yeah, Well, of course, as you climb the mountain and get higher in elevation, we were up in the clouds a little bit at that point.

Sometimes we didn’t even really have a view of the glacier because the clouds would roll in, then maybe a few seconds later they would breeze on out and then you would have a view.

22:40

So we had to wait up there and time our photos a little bit, but it was really cool.

At this point, again, you do have a view of the glacier.

We even saw some people hiking on the glacier.

I don’t know if you need specific permits or anything to do that, but we saw people that were on the glacier and then we ended up at this point, of course, after getting our feel of the views and photos, turning back around.

23:05

But before we talk about our way back down because something very exciting happened on it when we were in the parking lot and started this hike.

I mean, when you see images of Alaska, this is really what I felt like I was here in person seeing like, wow, these are the images.

You just had the big open river area.

23:22

That’s the melt of the glacier with the big rocks.

Then you you get into the forest, it just looked like what you would imagine Alaska to look like.

And I really loved it here.

And something that was the really unique perspective too, even as we were driving on the road in the National Park to get in here.

23:38

And of course, at the trailhead, they will have signs posted that will show you where the glacier was at certain years.

And it’s just so crazy and mind boggling to see how fast it really has retreated.

Like less than 150 years ago it was a mile and a half out.

23:57

You know, that is just insane and intense to me.

And also before we talk about our way down, as we were hiking through the snow portion, they do have small flags marking the path so that keeps you on track.

So if you’re worried about getting lost, make sure to download all trails and have the map of the trail downloaded so that you can access it even if you’re offline.

24:20

And then look for the small flags.

You’re also going to pass a stream with a wooden bridge and several waterfalls.

Some of them are small, but there’s one large one.

And then also, it would be helpful if you wanted to do this to bring crampons.

We forgot to bring ours.

24:35

What?

Yeah, and it was a little slippery.

So crampons are helpful.

Or hiking sticks would even be helpful.

We only needed the crampons for about half of a mile, and that’s the round trip portion.

By the time there was the snow, it could have been helpful, but we knew we weren’t really going to be hiking anywhere else with snow.

24:54

So yes, we forgot it.

It was able to be done.

It would have been a bit more helpful, but I don’t think absolutely necessary unless it’s a little bit later in the season.

The snow really hasn’t melted, but the trail allows you to go further.

But yeah, crampons would be helpful, so if you want, bring those for short.

25:09

We will link in the show notes our favorite crampons and hiking sticks.

So as we’re on our way down, Jamal and I are just enjoying this trail and Jamal’s like, hey, Brett, how close do you think we’ve been to a bear?

And I’m like, I don’t know, probably within 100 meters.

25:26

And exactly as I end saying that, Jamal’s like, Oh my God, Brittany, there’s a bear.

And it was a Mama bear and her cub Little.

Bear.

Brown Bear.

There, Yeah, literally, I don’t know, maybe 20 feet or less from the.

25:42

Feet.

Yeah, they were very close to the trail.

I was actually in front.

No, I was behind Brittany.

But Brittany’s walking and we’re having this conversation.

And of course, you know, when you hike, you’re looking down sometimes, too, to make sure you have your footing.

I just happened to be looking up, and that’s when I told her, like, Brittany, Brittany, Oh my gosh, there’s a bear.

26:01

And so I kind of had to grab her by the shoulders because I knew she was looking down and didn’t see it.

But they they were very, very close to the trail.

They were in the forested area, no doubt.

But yeah, it was a Mama bear and her cub.

And when I say cub, it wasn’t like it was a first year cub, like really tiny.

You know, bears will stay with their mothers for about two years.

26:21

I think this bear here based off of its size was in its second year, so older.

But nevertheless, they are still protective at that point.

But black bears in general, just as an FYI for people who are unaware, they’re the ones where if you feel like they, they might attack you, you should be making noise.

26:39

Threaten them because they don’t really want to fight.

Make yourself look bigger.

Do not do that with a grizzly.

That is a dangerous thing to do with a grizzly.

You just want to back away, let it know that you’re there.

Make yourself not a threat.

But the black bears, yeah, you want to do that.

26:55

But of course, only if you feel threatened.

Even though they were that close, we didn’t feel threatened.

We were so excited, we stayed.

We took our photos, videos, what not.

And of course, eventually about a minute, 2 minutes in and they got tired of us and retreated back to the forest and we lost them.

But it was really exciting to come across the bears on the trail.

27:12

That’s kind of scary to know that they’re just in the forest, they’ve just retreated, but they could be there at any turn.

Well, that’s why we were having that conversation because we didn’t see any.

And I know they’re there, but it’s like, how close do you think we were to them at any point on this trail?

And just by happenstance and God willing, here they were for us at that moment in time as we’re having that conversation.

27:33

And they have like, this little, I guess, visitor center by the parking lot here.

And there’s a board outside that says, like, animal sightings.

And so people can write up animal sightings that they saw and where they saw it and at what time.

And so Jamal was like, yeah, I can’t wait to put the bear on the board.

27:50

But someone beat him to it.

So they must have seen it just before we did and then had continued on the trail.

It was the same spot.

Yeah, it was the same spot it.

Was probably the same spot because people were going up the hill as we were going down the hill.

And of course, as people come when you see wildlife, you want to tell them to be quiet, buy it from either direction so they don’t startle it.

28:08

They have the opportunity to see it.

So the people that were coming up, we’re like, Oh yeah, someone just like 2-3 minutes ago told us there was a bear up here still.

So I think it was the people who we did not see on the trail that were just slightly ahead of us that put it on the board that I was so excited because the only thing on the board in the morning when we left, I remember looking at it was moose dropping.

28:28

So I’m like, that’s boring.

I’m going to be the 1:00 to be able to put on the bear.

And then no, somebody beat me too.

And that was very disheartening.

But anyway.

On that board, was there anything else that anyone saw?

No, those were just the two that were on there, the moose droppings which were there when we had arrived and then by the time we got back to the board, the bear sighting.

28:49

So nothing else had been spotted yet that day.

So we were super excited where we were able to get to at Marmot Meadows and back.

Round trip was about four miles.

So we did about half of the trail.

Instead of 8 miles, we did 4 miles.

But that’s all we could do.

We were OK with that.

29:04

Squatty’s.

If hiking isn’t your thing, there are more things to do in Seward.

They have an Alaska Sea Life Center, they have a waterfront park, and Seward’s known for its murals.

There’s over 30 murals around Seward.

So you can go mural hopping, finding that sort of thing.

29:20

But by this time, Jamal and I were ready to relax and grab a beer, so we headed over to Stoney Creek Brewhouse.

This brewhouse is a one man show.

We actually met the owner, Greg, because it’s he’s a one man show.

He operates a glacier fed and solar run brewhouse using the natural waters.

29:40

Yeah, he uses the natural waters and the environment to create his craft beer.

Even though it is a one man shop with Greg, Stoney Creek Brewery is very big here in Seward as well as the surrounding area around here, even into Anchorage.

29:55

Every restaurant in town has his beer on tap or in bottle for you.

I even saw it when we were in Anchorage that it is available there too.

So don’t be discouraged by the fact that it’s a one man show.

The quality of the beer is really good.

It’s made in a unique way.

30:11

You know they say with an alternative beer, which I’m not going to say that’s a mainstream one that we know it comes from the Rockies right here.

Well, you got Glacial Melt making your beer and that’s very good, very crisp.

Had a really good time at the Tap House trying different beers and hanging out with Greg.

30:28

Yeah, and it’s a little bit out of the main downtown Seward area, so you could only get here, really if you had a car.

But he has some benches outside, and he’s just like, in this forested area.

And the brewery follows alongside 2 Creeks.

30:44

Hence the name Stoney Creek.

Yeah, one of them is called Stoney Creek.

And then there’s, you know, mountains as a backdrop and a glacier above.

So it’s a really Pretty Little brew house.

So we hung out with Greg, the owner, and then his friend Bryce was there.

So we just got to chat with them and kind of learn about local life and then got to ask him about his brewery.

31:05

And I tried a blueberry heffelweizen, which was amazing.

Great.

Yes, that was one of the beers I got to go actually, and we ended end up taking it with us to Glacier Bay because we ended up getting a six pack of mixed beer.

So that was one of the beer flavors.

31:21

So you can go in there and mix and match A6 pack.

Yes you can because he’s now starting to get into the canning portion of things because of course one man shop, it’s not like it’s he’s a giant cannery.

He can ring them up together with any 6 pack that you want.

His main thing is basically making bigger batches for kegs for the restaurants and of course the canning, which those cans are available for sale on the boat tours that we ended up doing.

31:47

We ended up seeing them there.

So again, just keep in mind when we say one man show, I love the fact that it’s just a local business, somebody here in Sword, but it is really good quality beer that you’re going to be having too, so you can do the mix and match.

I ended up having a spruce pine IPAI, got a bait water, which is a coach, and then there’s Squirrels Den Hazy IPA.

32:09

So I tried a few of his varieties out here and they were all pretty good.

He actually has spruce on his property, so he went and picked a few spruce buds and we actually got to like try those.

And then he poured the beer and you got to taste like the flavour within.

32:26

And I think that was just like really cool and unique.

So I like that and I just like to hang out with Greg.

I’d go back there and hang out with him some more.

Greg’s a one man show, but he sounds like a very busy one man.

And that is that he is.

And so we were just talking with Greg, we’re like, hey, where would you recommend to go for dinner?

32:45

And he recommended us go to the cookery.

He actually called the cookery while we were there and said, Hey, what’s the wait time?

Because they can get very busy.

And they said they, they basically had like a table ready for us.

He was like, all right, I’m not trying to rush you guys out, but like, you guys should go and get dinner.

33:03

Oh, that’s so nice.

Because this is a really popular spot and usually there is a wait for the cookery and you do need reservations.

So he knows this as a local.

His daughter actually works there as a Hostess, and he’s like, oh, if she was working tonight, you know, I can make sure.

But when he called, he let them know who he was.

33:21

And it’s like, all right, please, like hold this table.

They’ll be here in about 1520 minutes.

So they’re like, if they’re here in 1520 minutes, we’ll hold the table.

Anything beyond that, you know, we won’t.

So he gave us the hook up for our meal at the cookery and we avoided the line and wait.

We started with oysters, which were really good, and then we got an app of Brussels sprouts.

33:41

And then for our mains, Jamal got shrimp and grit and I got a halibut dish and everything we got was super good.

Really enjoyed it.

And then they asked us if we wanted to have dessert there and we were really tempted.

But I had also done some research on a place called Sweet Darlings, which was down the street.

34:00

And so we ended up getting ice cream from there.

And then they also made like handmade chocolate.

So we got a few of those to go.

Sounds delicious.

Seward being small, it sounds like there’s kind of a lot of options, a lot, you know, relative to the place, but it seems like they’ve got some great options there.

34:18

Of course, well, it’s a seasonal town and it’s a gateway to a major National Park that a lot of people come to.

So it has that small town feel.

But of course with the accompaniments that you would expect for a tourist destination like sort because even cruise ships come in here.

So they need to have that type of infrastructure.

34:34

So yes, it’s small, but without feeling large, you have what you need to accommodate the people that are there and an acute, quaint way.

So that was our first day in Kenai Fjords National Park.

We stayed overnight at the Breeze Inn in Seward and the next day we were really excited for because it was a big boat day.

34:52

Before we get on to the next day Squatty’s, I just want to remind you of all of the resources we have on our website.

Head on over to travelsquadpodcast.com.

You can sign up for our twice weekly newsletter, which has all of our updates and deals that we send out straight to your inbox.

You can see our Amazon shop links to all of our itineraries.

35:11

We have an episode page for every single eisode we air with tons of other information and links in there.

You can just go in there, search, make it really really easy and check everything out.

Chomsodcastcom.

So the next day, which is the day we were so excited for, was going to be an all day cruise with Major Marine Tours.

35:33

When I was doing research, they had tours that were 467 and 1/2 hours long, but they also had one that was 8 1/2 hours long.

And I told Jamal, I said I feel like if we’re going to do key knife yards, right, we should pick the longest cruise available and get the most out of it.

35:50

So we did that.

We picked the 8 1/2 hour cruise, major Marine tours and it also said it was the best cruise for wildlife and it visited 3 glaciers.

The tour we booked with came with a deli lunch and they had complimentary binoculars on board so that you can spot sea life in the distance, which I thought was really cool because we didn’t bring ours.

36:12

So that was really helpful.

The check in for the boat tour is at the 360 Harbor Hotel.

It’s right on the harbor.

You board the boat tour right behind this hotel and and if you actually do stay at this hotel, you can get a discount on the cruise tickets because you can book it as a package.

36:30

So if you don’t stay at the Breeze Inn, I would highly recommend staying there.

The hotel looked really cute.

One of the murals is on the outside of it of puffins.

It’s very picturesque.

It’s right on the water and so it’s a great place to stay, I would say.

Before we get into the actual cruise, I just want to say this about Major Marine Tours.

36:49

Really love the experience, the captain that we had, plus the two deck hands, absolutely amazing, like all around and making everybody feel welcome, comfortable, taking care of us.

The knowledge that they even had and describing what it is that we’re seeing, what we’re doing.

37:04

They know their stuff and what I think is really cool.

Again, to Brittany’s point about their different tour options that they have at the 467 and a half, 8 1/2 hours, it’s not just more time out there.

Look on their website because depending on the length of the tour, they’re going to be going to different glaciers, different coves and certain areas.

37:22

So the 8 1/2 hour one, of course we go out the furthest, but if you do like the four or six hour 1, you’re going to be seeing different glaciers.

Like if we did that tour, we would have saw closer glaciers to the town of Seward.

And even on our 8 1/2 hour one, we actually bypassed those ones and went further to other ones.

37:40

So it’s not like it’s longer and then you see everything that’s on those ones too.

So you have a good variety.

And if you’re there multiple days, could even do multiple of these tours and you’re going to be seeing different stuff if you do different lengths of time.

Yeah, so shout out to our captain.

Who is captain and his deckhands?

37:55

Rowan and Scott.

They were fantastic.

And we do have a few tips for you.

You bring a packable backpack.

You might want to pack some layers because you’re going to be going from inside, outside, the weather fluctuates.

Bring a portable phone charger.

You’re going to be taking a ton of pictures and you’re going to be on the boat all day, so our battery was running low by the end of the day.

38:17

Bring gloves, a rainproof jacket because you never know what the weather is going to be even in summer.

And then if you do get sea sick, and I was nervous about this because I do get seasick, take Dramamine.

And our man Greg from the brewery the night before, he gave me a really great tip.

38:33

And his tip was take a Dramamine the night before.

It’s already in your system, you’re already acclimated it.

And then take it again before the tour, like an hour before the tour and you’re going to feel great.

You’re not going to feel as sick and you’re not going to be as drowsy as you would be if you just took it right beforehand.

38:50

Tried this and it was great advice.

I did not get sick on this tour, so after we checked in, we got on board.

You do share a table with other cruise passengers.

Our boat could hold up to 60 people and we had 48 people on board.

The crew started at 8:30 in the morning.

39:08

They have bathrooms on board, which were actually pretty nice considering like a small boat bathroom.

They do sell the Dramamine that I mentioned on board as well if you didn’t have any to take in advance.

They’re basically like, please buy it if you think you need it because they don’t really want to deal with the mess, right?

39:23

They want everyone to have a great time.

Well, if there if there is a mess off the side of the boat, it could help attract some of that sea life.

Maybe.

That actually happened one time when Brittany and I were in Hawaii.

We were doing the manta ray snorkeling and Brittany was getting a little sick, bouncy, puked and definitely some wildlife came around and ate her come UPS so to speak.

39:46

But coming out of the harbor into Resurrection Bay, we started off the tour right with seeing a wet bald eagle sitting on top of a post.

And then immediately after we saw sea otters and it was eating a crab.

And I told Jamal from the very beginning, like I really want to see a sea Otter.

40:04

And they were abundant.

So I was so happy to see one and it had like 2 little crabs that it was eating so cute.

And then we sailed a little bit and they told us about the area and the National Park.

The sea otters were really cool.

I feel like you’re definitely going to see the sea otters.

I feel like that’s a 100% chance of that.

By the way, I love about them as they hang out on their back and then they’ll do their dives and swims.

40:22

And so this one was just doing that, diving, swimming.

Then he would come up, lay on his back and you would see that he was shuffling and juggling like 2 crabs that he was just had in his hand and was eating.

I thought that was a really great way to actually start the trip.

But of course, we sail out of Resurrection Bay, we get started on our tour, we know we’re going to be seeing wildlife here.

40:44

And some of the first wildlife that we saw, minus the bald eagle and the sea otters.

Once we got to some mountain edges, we saw some mountain goats.

And they’re not just like normal goats that you think of like when you think of goats like here.

And when I say here, I’m talking like contiguous 40 eights, like looking goats.

41:01

The mountain goats are all these all white, majestic with horns, really cool.

They’re on the edge of the cliffs.

They’re very good at balancing on these narrow edges.

So we saw three of them, a Mama and her kid and another adult could have been the dad, who knows on that.

41:17

But mountain goats, don’t be shocked when you really are impressed by mountain goats because every time I saw them I was like oh man, these things are so cool because they just hang out like on the edge and they are very cool looking creatures.

Oh, I am always impressed by mountain goats.

In fact, when I was in Greece recently, there was just tons of mountain goats in the mountains surrounding the place that I was staying, and every single day was just as amazed.

41:38

Yeah, they’re so cool.

So we continued on our sailing and we were headed towards Spire Cove and on the way there we saw some mammals called dolls porpoise.

Have you heard of those, Kim?

No.

What is that?

So they’re mammals.

They look like dolphins, but they have the coloration of orcas.

41:57

And so they’re very playful.

They like to jump alongside of the boat’s wake and swim alongside.

But dolphins are typically like a Gray color.

These are black and white.

So they look like little mini orcas in a way.

Cute.

Yeah, they were really cool.

We got to see them a few different times.

42:12

They were swimming like right alongside the boat.

Super cool.

And what I love about this boat tour is not only are we going to see the wildlife, but we’re also going to see landscapes.

And so as we got to Spire Cove, it’s at the edge of Resurrection Bay and it’s on the edge of the Gulf of Alaska.

42:29

So now we’re getting more into the ocean area where these like crashing winter storm waves are crashing into the rock and they’ve created these like rock Spires and sea stacks.

And it just is a really picturesque landscape.

42:44

And as the fog was rolling and it was just so beautiful, it was one of my favorite stops that we did on this tour.

From there we continued on to Agnes Cove where we saw a Mama whale and her calf.

Humpback whales.

Humpback whales.

And then we came across more of the playful porpoises.

43:03

I remember at what point it was between what Cove or landscape, But at some point, before we forget to talk about it, we did come across orcas.

And it’s always very exciting.

Exciting when you come across killer whales because not that they’re not common out there, but here in this region of Alaska, especially at this time, you’re more than likely going to see humpback whales, which this was our first sighting of them that Brittany just mentioned.

43:27

We saw more along the way, which we’ll just highlight briefly as we get to it, but we saw some orcas.

It wasn’t a full blown giant pod.

It was a mom swimming with a baby calf.

There was a third one that was out there, but it wasn’t hovering around them.

43:45

And that was, I was really exciting to see.

At one point they really went under the boat and popped up right by us.

So that was cool.

That was the closest I’ve ever been to an orca, even though we’ve been whale watching before and had seen an orca.

But I really wish we caught this on camera.

Kim, have you ever seen a whale breach?

44:01

I mean, you always see the photos of it and video of it if you’re watching something on TV, Discovery Channel.

But have you ever seen a whale breach in person?

For all the whale watching I’ve done, they’ve never come up.

Well my camera unfortunately was not ready to catch it, but we saw an orca breach.

44:20

It jumped out of the water.

It’s not like where it comes up and it’s dorsal fin comes in and they go diving.

Like literally jumped out of the water, breached ash, landed back in.

Was it?

Vast.

It was impressive.

It was huge.

Wow.

It was huge and it did that, I would say no more than probably 100 feet away from the boat, so relatively.

44:39

Hush, wow.

I mean I I saw your videos when you were here in posting and just abundant wildlife, like every type of wildlife I feel like you saw here and wow what an amazing thing to see in person.

Yeah, it really, really was.

And as you’re talking about wildlife, we haven’t even touched on the birds that we came across.

44:58

And if you’ve been following us for a while, you guys should know that Jamal is now a bird.

Birdie.

He loves bird watching.

He’s so into birds.

He’s got a new fascination.

I am fascinated by them, I won’t deny it.

Something about birds, I mean, they’re either disgusting because some birds are just absolutely disgusting and savage, and then some of the other ones are just so beautiful and elegant.

45:17

But there’s just something unique about birds that I really appreciate.

Now, I don’t know what it is, but I mean, I enjoy seeing them, but I’m not all about learning about them.

But of course, when you’re here, you’re going to see puffins.

Everyone really likes to see puffins.

They’re very colorful, unique birds and we saw quite a bit of them when we were in Iceland.

45:37

But when we were in Iceland we only saw one type.

Here in Alaska, they have both types.

It’s either the horned or tufted.

We saw both, so that was really cool.

But our tour guides were telling us that we came across some birds.

These ones are very, very small.

They’re called kitlets, miralettes, and they’re very small and rare to see.

45:57

And our guides also mentioned that if people are bird watchers and see these ones, they’re like so excited because they’re rare.

At one point they were on the endangered species list, but then they realized even though that they are rare and that there’s issues with their population, they thought their population was declining a lot faster than it was.

46:17

So they’re no longer listed on the endangered species list, but again, still a rare sighting.

And if you guys have ever heard of the Exxon Valdez spill that happened in 1989, it was when a big oil tanker by Exxon spilled oil in to the bays of Alaska, more particularly in the Valdez area.

46:35

It’s estimated that that spilled killed about like 5 to 10% of this birds population.

So that’s even something that they had suffered from due to a disaster that way.

But yeah, I mean, they were small and tiny.

I wasn’t really impressed by them, but still cool when they tell us how rare it is to actually see these.

46:51

I felt even more lucky in terms of all the wildlife we saw on top of that.

Yeah, so much to see.

And then we’re like so excited about all this wildlife.

And then we come across 2 tidewater glaciers.

Tidewater glaciers are a type of glacier that flow all the way down into the sea and terminate into the ocean.

47:08

They’re unique because they often calve, which means that a large chunk of ice breaks off the glaciers edge and falls into the water.

Sometimes that means they form icebergs.

This reminds me of Iceland Yokel Sarlin.

47:23

Yes, that is a tidewater glacier.

So of course, glaciers that come into the water, hence the name tidewater, makes sense.

But there’s all sorts of other glaciers that don’t meet the ocean that aren’t anywhere near the ocean, right?

So when you hear tidewater, it is specifically the type where the ice is now in the Ocean’s edge.

47:41

And of course, that’s what forms these fjords.

Here the name is Kenai fjords.

The fjords are carved by these tidewater glaciers.

Of course there were a lot more of them.

They’ve receded a lot overtime.

But yeah, this is what creates this dynamic landscape that we’re in is the tidewaters.

47:57

Yeah, so these glaciers are pretty close to each other, so we get views of both.

But what we were really going to see was the Northwest Glacier.

And so we sailed through the icy waters to get there.

We saw hundreds of harbor seals on the ice, tons of little icebergs, and then chunks of ice that can’t be classified as icebergs.

48:17

So they’re actually called bergies and growlers.

How cute is that little breeze and growlers?

So cute.

So we saw those and then we make it to the northwest glacier.

This is the highlight of the cruise.

This is what we’re looking to sail to.

48:33

It’s a very large tidewater glacier.

It’s actively calving and we had to slow down to get here because you’re sailing through all of the ice to get there.

So amazing to see that in person.

Since this was the highlight of the trip.

I mean, minus the wildlife, of course, but if everyone wants to see the glacier.

48:50

So the highlight is this is the ending point before we turn around and start sailing back.

We did stay parked here for a little bit.

Some of the crew ended up picking some of the glacial ice out of the water.

We got to hold it, field it, see how cold it was.

And then they ended up picking up some more ice because they didn’t want to use the one that everyone had touched in their hand.

49:10

But they really got a new fresh chunk of ice from the glacier.

And then they made us cocktails and margaritas with it.

So you could have drinks with glacial.

You’d have loved that, Kim.

Did they blend it up or just like break off pieces?

On the rocks.

49:26

Yeah, on the rocks they broke off pieces.

Wow.

And if you just want like an ice cold beer, you can pour a beer on top of it.

Or for kids, you could just get a water to drink with your glacial ice.

Pretty cool.

And so then on the way back, we hit an area called Cataract Cove, which has a ton of waterfalls as you sail in through the Cove.

49:46

Really cool to see.

On the way back, the weather started to get very sunny.

It was a beautiful day in Alaska and we went by a rock with a bunch of stellar sea lions.

We got to observe a humpback doing a feeding technique called bubble net feeding, where they like blow up a whole bunch of bubbles and they trap their prey making it easier for them to feed.

50:06

So we got to see that, which was really cool and they said was really unique.

Marine biologists are saying that this is a new feeding technique.

They’ve been seeing them do it for a while, but a while that means relatively new.

So they’ll blow air up through their blowhole and then it circles their fish or prey and everything that they’re eating so that they can’t get out.

50:24

And then they come up and of course take their big chomp and bite of it.

So up until this point, all the whales we had been seeing, of course we saw them, you know, come up with their dorsal fin, do tail dives and down.

But this whale that we saw, we literally got to see it come up with its mouth and take a bite, which is a very rare thing to actually see.

50:45

So we got even more cooler wildlife sightings seeing it actually come up and feed and open its mouth.

This whole day was so active.

I felt like we barely had any time to sit down.

We were constantly getting up and looking at all the wildlife, which is so exciting.

And so I’m thinking like, we’re ending this day and they’re handing out brownies.

51:04

And so I am like.

What a great way to end the day.

I know.

And those brownies were fired.

Too and I am chomping down on this brownie and we come across another humpback whale and it’s just doing tail slapping.

So it’s body is down, but it’s tails out just slapping the water over and over again for about 5 minutes.

51:26

They’re so happy up there.

Yeah, and Jamal was like, give me your camera because his I think his camera was dead at this point.

So he’s taking a video on my phone and I just got to sit there and watch and not have to worry about being a photographer or videographer or anything.

And I feel like that image is going to live rent free in my mind for life.

51:43

And it was just like a core memory for me.

Like I was just so happy eating my brownie and just watching this hunt back, doing this tail slap.

It was so cool.

Like we had already rated our experience like 10 out of 10.

And this was just like the icing on the cake.

So you would highly recommend then Major Marine tours?

52:02

Highly recommend, I couldn’t say enough good things about them.

I would not do any other tour in Kenai Fjords National Park other than Major Marines.

Brittany’s dad and girlfriend, by happenstance, happened to be in Alaska at the same time.

They were actually doing a cruise.

52:18

One of their stops were in SWORD.

Yeah, we didn’t see them.

We didn’t come across them.

Our itineraries didn’t match.

But when they did their boat tour, I’m not going to say the competitor company, but they did that boat tour and they were like, it was just OK.

But not even the wildlife.

I’m talking like the food, the experience, the knowledge things and stuff that they were getting.

52:36

So Major Marines, I mean, we have from a direct source, the competitor was used and it wasn’t as good.

So Major Marines, absolutely all the way.

Although these companies are competitors, when they do see something cool like a whale or something like that, they do share that information between both because they do want everyone to have the best experience.

52:57

So I mean they our competitors but also they are allies so makes it nice.

Right.

And again, I’m just talking strictly on board experience.

That’s all I’m referencing when I say that.

And it was such a great day overall.

But what made this day even more special was that 10 years ago to the state, Jamal actually had proposed to me atop the Mendenhall teacher in Alaska.

53:19

And here we are, 10 years later in Alaska and on a glacier cruise.

Was that intentional?

It wasn’t.

It just happened to match up.

What are the chances of that right?

That’s cute, back where it all started.

Yeah, so a long day.

We got back into port at Sword and we disembarked by 5:00 PM.

53:38

So after the all day boat tour, which did provide lunch, we were ready for dinner.

So we were invited to the Tidewater Tap house, which is really close to the harbor.

Actually.

You can actually walk there.

And Jamal had mentioned earlier that if you had gone by train, this is like the only restaurant between the harbor and the train.

53:57

So it makes super popular.

It’s super cute.

Ask to be seated upstairs.

That’s a tip that we have for you.

There’s a really cool themed bar upstairs with tentacles coming down from the ceiling, tentacles coming up from the ground, harbor views, and it’s just really cute themed bar.

54:15

Before we even get into the food, I just want to set the setting here an ambience so you can understand Tidewater Tap House.

So Brittany mentioned a little bit about the upstairs bar, but the town of Sword is a fishing village.

Yes, it has now shifted a little bit because of course the National Park is here.

54:32

It gets the tourism from that, but its main thing is fishing.

Tidewater Tap House is in an old fishing boat repair dock area, so it has the garage door that still lifts up to where you were supposed to bring in the boats.

54:48

The upstairs that Brittany’s talking about was a storage area for engines, boat parts, etcetera.

So you are in a true piece of history of what the local economy here is, which is the fishing.

And then that bar that Brittany’s talking about, it’s shaped like a boat.

And then the tentacles is basically like the Kraken coming up and trying to like sink it down.

55:09

And so just the ambiance and setting in here in and of itself is an experience, let alone the food.

Yeah, so if you can’t get a seat upstairs, would highly recommend that.

We started the dinner off with some cocktails.

I got one called the Bubbly Mermaid.

55:24

It was so good.

It was made from vodka, lime juice, berries and a champagne float.

A top with edible mermaid bubbles made it so fun.

And really, this cocktail was so delicious, I should have gotten another one.

And then Jamal, what did you get?

55:40

I.

Ended up getting the Mount Spur, which is a seed lip spice botanical drink with pineapple, and I always have difficulty pronouncing this, but it’s that spicy Asian sauce, I think it’s called GAO Shuang.

So it had a little bit of spice to it, but just the right amount.

55:57

You took a sip of it, you didn’t really feel the spice until you swallowed and then it hit the back of your throat in a real subtle way.

It was nice.

I didn’t want to drink because we did have the drive back to Anchorage this night because we were had an early flight the next morning.

So Brittany got to enjoy the alcohol.

56:14

I tried one of their mocktails, but everything that was on the menu drink wise was really well crafted, good and unique.

You talked about the bubbly mermaid, but you didn’t really talk about what those edible bubbles are, Brittany.

I mean, they’re bubbles that are blown up and then they blow some smoke and steam into it.

56:32

So as you’re drinking it and it pops, then you have mist and steam that comes out of it.

It really is a complete dining and drinking experience.

Oh.

I love cocktails with the big bubble on top and you pop it, it kind of explodes.

It wasn’t just one, it was multi bubble.

So then one bubble will pop, then you still have bubbles on top and then another one will go.

56:52

So it wasn’t just like 1 and done, Yeah.

Yeah, it was really cute ’cause when Jamal and I cheers, a bubble popped and it was just like perfect, you know?

And then our app was a tidewater crab dip, and let me tell you that some of the best crab dip I have had.

57:10

I’m usually not a crab dip person, I’m not going to deny that.

But this, when we had it, I was like, oh wow, this is exceptional.

Like, I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed the crab dip.

And for our mains, I ordered a Shrimp and King Crab Alfredo, which is one of their specials for the night, and Jamal ordered the Tidewater Miso Sablefish which was so buttery, flaky and delicious that fish was cooked to perfection.

57:38

I had never had table fish before, but let me tell you, if I ever have it again it will always be held to this standard.

Well, there’s certain whitefish that are flaky fish.

Let’s just take cod for example, Very, very common flaky.

It’s good, but it doesn’t have that like rich buttery texture.

57:55

Most people when they think of a good whitefish, they’ll of course think of a halibut.

Really buttery, flaky.

This sable fish is on that type of level with a halibut, if not even better.

Plus that miso glaze that they had on top really really accentuated it.

58:10

I absolutely loved this dish here.

We were so full but we still managed to try the ube cheesecake which was so good as well.

It had like this honey on top of it and Oh my God, so so good.

A perfect dinner.

We absolutely loved it here at Tidewater Tap House.

58:28

Honestly, I would recommend if you eat at any restaurant when you’re in Seward, do eat here.

Not only just for the food but also for the ambiance as well.

I really love places that give you both good food and the ambiance to go with it, and this place has it.

58:45

So after dinner, we were completely stuffed, but we made our way back to Anchorage, had our overnight in Anchorage, and we were leaving early the next morning to Glacier Bay National Park.

So Squatty’s, if you’re interested in hearing that episode, make sure to follow us along for next week’s episode.

59:02

And thank you so much for tuning in to our Kenai Fjords episode.