Mother's Day in Seward

Mother's Day brought together two different silent auction purchases - one for the Alaska Railroad and one for a "Close Encounter with the Puffins" at the Sea Life Center in Seward.  I love riding the train, and we had a great time on this route that divides from the Seward Highway once you are past Portage - so a part of the countryside that you can only access from the train.  Brian took a couple of pictures of this picturesque gorge, but we passed two glaciers, and we could have been taking pictures out the window the entire time.

They have a full dining car, and it is a pleasant way to spend the 4 hour trip each way by having breakfast on the way and dinner on the way home - a surprisingly full menu too!

But the real treat was the puffins - we got a behind the scenes lecture on puffins then were brought in with a feed bucket to feed them individual pieces of herring - and then chopped up hooligan, which we were told was like their dessert!  Each puffin as a name and their own personality, and they told us some of them are really smart and won't eat until the good stuff comes out!

It was really fun.  The puffins were smaller than I expected them to be, and they only just got their spring plumage - in the winter, they are not nearly as colorful!  We found out that they usually mate with the same partner year after year - unless they're unsuccessful, in which case they will often search out a new mate.  They seem to be sad when they don't have a mate and spend a lot of time with the staff.  I recommend it, and the Sea Life Center has other close encounters to offer too!

We had just enough time for a beer and snack at the Seward Brewing Company and to try a "flight" of their beers.  We especially liked the red and the stout.