Everyone tends to get a little stir crazy in early spring when the snow is still around, but not really great snow anymore. Knowing it's a rough time of year, I booked us another whale watching trip our of Seward, hoping we didn't end up with the crazy rough seas that we got last year...
I haven't seen this sign up at a playground because we are usually avoiding them for that very reason. But we couldn't come to Seward and not play in the playground!
Plus you can tell it was a pretty nice day out - no jackets! The sun was shining and the skies were clear - a perfect day to be boating. Or, you know, pretending you have a skateboard and running up the ramps... :)
"All aboard!!" I'm so proud of him for not smashing his face like he did two years ago in this park. Though to be fair, he didn't have a cookie in his hand to protect if he fell. ;)
On the boat and ready to find some marine life!
As always, the otters are the first ones we found out of the harbor. I didn't have the super fancy zoom lens this year, so you get normal photos. Sigh...
They were being ridiculously cute and several of them were chasing each other around. It's probably the most active I've seen them!
Those are some pretty gorgeous mountains today. Also the spot of Matt's goat hunt later this year. Looks pretty rugged to me... Good luck, honey!
Speaking of the goats - one was just hanging out at the tops of a scree slope hunting for some food. These guys are super impressive where they like to hang out - there was one up the hill a little bit laying down on what looked like a very tiny ledge!
Finally found a pod of Orcas cruising around the gulf entrance. And you see that tiny fin in the background - it's a teeny baby Orca! Eeeeek!
The boys got tired of looking for whales and wanted to color instead. We have done this enough to have plenty of entertainment options available! (For some reason today they wanted the markers instead of the crayons.)
I feel like the Harbor Seals don't much care for the boats. They are always throwing some serious side eye at us when we cruise by...
The obligatory bald eagle! :)
And finally, my favorites, the noisy and kinda stinky Stellar Sea Lions. I can't decide which one is my favorite in this photo, the two trying to bite each other, the other with the backwards "rawr" or the big guy in the middle staring dreamily at us. I pretty much love them all!
And this is what a successful boat trip ends up looking like near the end. This guy doesn't always take naps anymore, but the running around the playground and the boat rocking were too much for him to fight today. (Not pictured, Henry napping on me...)
No gray whales again this year, but still a fun day trip for all of us! :)