Day 6

THU 9/2: I wake up around 7:30 to heavy rain. Our tent has stayed pretty dry, thankfully. I get dressed and walk down to the other side of the beach. I see Nikki, who joins me with some interesting news. Sometime after we went to bed, a lone kayaker landed at our beach and set up his tent under our tarp. To do this, however, he had to move all of our stuff out from under the tarp into the rain. All of our food is soaked. When Tom got up at 6:30 to start breakfast and discovered this, he was not too happy. The kayaker was asked to leave, and did so. What a jackass. After dealing with him, Tom, P.I., and Nikki head off up the hill to collect blueberries for breakfast. I return to the tents to find that Todd and Cynthia's tent appears to be floating in a puddle, and they are soaked inside. While Cynthia puts on her remaining dry clothes, Todd and I go over to the tarp. We see three otters swimming along the shore. They climb out on to some rocks and chase each other all over the beach. They look a little smaller than the sea otters from the day before, and have longer tails. Tom later tells me that these must have been river otters, because sea otters almost never come to shore. We have pancakes with fresh blueberries for breakfast. Nikki bravely sacrifices her body to bring us these berries, taking a spill on the way back. After breakfast, Tom, Nikki, P.I. and I strike camp. Todd and Cynthia stay dry. The rain is pouring down now, and there is a cold wind coming from the direction of the glaciers. We stay huddled under the tarp waiting for the boat, which arrives about 45 minutes late. I am damp and chilly, but not even close to miserable. It would have been nearly impossible to ruin this trip for me after the day we had on Wednesday.

When the boat does arrive, we load it in near record time, and then most of us promptly fall asleep on the return trip. We unload at the dock and chat with Pete and Pete for a little while, then head to a small cafe for lunch. I have a fried halibut sandwich made from a fish probably caught the day before. I don't think I've ever had a better fish sandwich. We stop by the kayak place for some quick merchandise purchases, and then pile into the car and head to Seward. We go back through the tunnel, then continue down the Seward highway. Because of the rain, some views are obscured, but it's still a gorgeous drive.

We're staying at a townhouse in the Army's resort in Seward, so we get checked in and head in for another much-needed shower. Todd, Cynthia and I walk down to the lodge to dry some wet clothes and play a few games on the foosball table in the laundry room. After cleaning up, we head over to Exit Glacier, just outside of Seward. The rain has let up, but there is a bitingly cold wind coming off the glacier. We take a few photos, but don't stay too long. We eat dinner at the Resurrection Roadhouse at the Seward Windsong Lodge. I have seafood chowder, a blackened chicken salad, way too much bread, and two pints of Alaskan Amber (Amber beers are incredibly good up here). Needless to say, I sleep very well.