Seward By Train

I got to spend the day with my friend Lorna yesterday. She had a companion fare (two for the price of one) on a round-trip ticket on the Alaska Railroad to Seward and back, so we took advantage of that – and saved a nice $119.00 in the process!

It was horribly early, though. Poor Thing did NOT want to get up at 4:30 in the morning. She protested loudly the entire time we were in the bathroom brushing our teeth and combing our hair. I’m fairly certain she went right back to bed the moment I left.

The train left Anchorage at 6:00 and we arrived in Seward around 11:00 – with some very beautiful scenery in between times! Lorna had her camera out, but mine never even left my backpack. Oh well, she took plenty of pictures for the both of us, and much better quality ones to boot!

Once in Seward, we donned our rain gear and started waking. First stop was at the Railway Cantina for a bite to eat. If you’ve never eaten there, I highly recommend it. They serve Burritos and Quesadillas with home-made salsa – and have quite an extensive selection of beer to choose from. Lorna chose the Garlic Quesadilla while I had the Smoked Salmon Quesadilla (minus the cheese).

Once our lunch was consumed we took off for the Seward SeaLife Center, which is always my favorite thing to do in Seward. The seabird exhibit is my favorite: I think we spent most of our time out there with all the birds! We did get to see the entire place, though – and had a good time. She got some really cool photos of the Wolf Eel, a handsome looking fellow if ever there was one.

I need to take a moment here to brag a little bit – I need all the confidence boosting I can get at the moment, so bear with me.

A year ago, I was in Seward about this same time of year with my then-roommate Trish. She and I also went to the Sealife Center, and while there I stepped up onto the scales where you are supposed to compare your own weight with that of the male Steller’s Sea lion, Woody. At that time I am slightly ashamed to admit that I weighed 196 pounds (my worst ever).

Yesterday I again stepped up on the scales and found that I now weigh 165 pounds! Yay!!! This means that I have been steadily losing weight at a rate of an average 2.5 pounds a month, and also means that I will reach my goal weight within roughly 6 months - assuming that I continue losing at the same pace.

And that ain’t bad!

Meanwhile, back in Seward, Lorna and I then walked the coastline back to the harbor and then proceeded to walk up and down each dock to look at all the boats. By the time we’d seen everything there is to see in the harbor, we decided that some fresh handmade Gellato sounded perfect, so stopped in at the Sweet Darlings store and got us a little bowl: I had the Fruit of the Forest flavor (blueberries, raspberries, and some other type of berry that I can’t remember) while Lorna tried the Blood Orange flavor. Both were just scrumptious and were exactly what we needed.

We still had an hour left before our train was due to depart, so we headed over to the bar for a drink and a game of Cribbage. I don’t have a cribbage board, so we just kept score on paper. I need to get me one, actually – must put that down on my list for tomorrow’s shopping spree.

The ride home on the train was just as nice as the morning’s trip had been. Lorna and I talked the entire way back: playing cards, drinking tea, and laughing. It was such a nice reprieve from my own personal troubles.

I got home and put myself to bed by 11:30 that night, tired but happy.