Kim and I have now experienced and have become familiar with the two ports which our Company cruises out of. We drove down to Seward last week and had a great time together. (That is once we got there and on our way back.) Kim and I drove separate vehicles. I drove our car and she drove a brand new Toyota Sienna. She was jealous of my time spent driving brand new vehicles in Juneau, so I guess she wanted to have her turn.
By the way, if you are wondering about the title of this post, I have an explanation.... So, we get people from all over the world that call our office to book their tour and cruises. Many have no idea how to pronounce the names of towns, rivers, national parks, etc. I can sympathize with them a little. But, it is hilarious to hear them try to pronounce the names of these places. First and foremost, the Kenai Fjords. Oh, this one gets so many people! I wonder if they even know what a fjord is when they have no idea how to say the word. So, here is a little lesson on pronunciation of the following words: Kenai Fjords (Key-nye fee-yords), Seward (Sue-word), Chugach (chew-gatch). My favorite wrong pronunciation of the word fjord is "jord". I believe people get so intimidated by the sight of the word that they just decide to drop any attempt to pronounce the word using the letter [ f ] at all. I wish I could record some of the pronunciations I have heard.
The drive to Seward was beautiful! Our least favorite part of the drive is the pot holes. Holy smokes! I seriously felt that the car's axle had snapped in two as I hit one of the Mammoth pot holes! Starting next weekend, I will be driving our cruise passengers down to Seward. I am thinking if I get an annoying group of people or anybody that starts nodding off while I am narrating the tour, I will just hit a few pot holes during our travels. :)
Another benefit of working in the tourism industry, is that you get to do a lot of things for free. For instance, we walked into the Sea Life Center and told the gentleman that we work for Major Marine and he let us in free. Saved us $40 dollars, admission was $20 bucks per person.
Here are some photos we took @ the Sea Life Center
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Here is Kim lifting up some buoys that were on display at the Sea Life Center.
Look at those muscles! |
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Alaskan King Crab getting ready to pounce on Kim.
Little known fact, these things are super aggressive and unpredictable! |
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| Giant Sea Spider otherwise known as "King Crab" |
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| Starfish |
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| Mohawk Fish |
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| Shrimp |
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| Mohawk Fish with his fin slicked back |
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| Nuff Said! |
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| A lot of weird sea birds, this one has two antennas on its back |
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Puffins, we were a little amazed at how small they were. I guess we were expecting them to be as big as penguins.
These guys dive down into the water and swim around like maniacs. Fun to watch! |
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Horned Puffin
Some thick eyebrows, huh?
They remind me of Lovelace from Happy Feet, except less Penguin like. |
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Stellar Sea Lion
These guys like attention. They came waddling out when we showed up and they kept swimming by and looking back at us to see if we were watching. They get pretty big too, one named "Woody" weighed 1700 lbs. |
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| Another weird sea plant |
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| Sea cactus or something like that... |
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Don't try this at home!
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| All aboard! |
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| Captain Kim! |
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| Who's got the fiercest face? |
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| Hormonal changes cause the snout to curl inward, facial hair to grow (or skin becomes darker), teeth become longer and sharper, such changes cause rapid mood swings. Effects can be seen in both creatures. |
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| This fish gives me nightmares! |
This was such a fun post to read. I think this is the one Kim said Jed did and so I love the way jed comments and the fun facts! The pictures were great and you both look so good. I love to eat crab but seeing that king spider crab made me scared because it was so big! I don't like spiders. That is awesome that you got to go in for free! Miss you guys and it looks like you are having fun.
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