The hike for today was along the Iditarod Trail.  It gave me another chance to try out my new boots which I have been loving.  The part of the trail that we hiked on was mostly flat, sometimes wet, and a lot more overgrown than I expected.  I’m curious what the same part of the trail looks like when the sled dogs hit the snow.  There were some wet parts that Brooke had to be carried over (the picture below on the right) and the bugs were pretty tenacious again.  Thankfully right before we were going to turn around the trail opened up to a picturesque river.  Scott and Brooke were able to get in Brooke’s daily dose of river rock tossing and attempted rock skipping.  Scott was able to get quite a few stones all the way across.  It was neat to try to imagine all of the history, hard work, and snow that encase the trail in the winter time.

The picture up above on the right is Brooke with her latest stick.  (We have a monster collection of rocks and sticks that are quickly accumulating.)  Brooke is also being quite the Junior Ranger and pointing out the striations on the rock from the glacier that was once here.  She didn’t quite say striations, but she tried!

Apparently Cody didn’t like this carrot!

Brooke loves rock skipping and boulder chucking with Scott.  She was giggling so hard that it made Cody giggle too.  It was a remarkable hike, hiking for two hours where so much history has been made.

These were our last pictures of Seward.  We were able to camp right along the ocean again.  It was so peaceful. The picture on the left is of two sea otters playing.  Sea otters were floating all over the shoreline.  They are just so cute!  There was an impressive park too.  I loved the signs at the park.  The bird in the sign on the right is a puffin.  Then look closely at the puffins mouth.  Get it?

Brooke has been begging to ride the “Denali Train” as she calls it since we saw the yellow and blue Alaskan Railroad Train in Denali.  We have seen the trains in Anchorage and Seward and all along the roads connecting them.  I wasn’t sure she was up for a four hour trip and the price tag was a little steep.  Scott mentioned it a few times and finally I agreed.  He drove the van and Cody from Seward to Anchorage while Brooke and I rode the rails.  She loved it!  It was absolutely worth it!  It was only in the last half hour (nine thirty at night) that she was sleepy and ready to be resting on her pillow.

This is the dining car.  We had to have some sort of treat, so we went for ice cream.  The girl who just this year started eating real dairy actually asked me to finish her ice cream since it was “too much sugar” for her.  Mmmm!

This is the dome car.  You were able to come up here, but they asked you to limit your stay for others.  However, most of the “others” were sleeping down in their seats, so we enjoyed it A Lot!  The picture on the left was Brooke trying to do moose antlers (we were looking for moose in the town of Moose Pass).  The picture on the right is of Brooke telling me how to play a game she made up with Crazy Eight cards.

This was the train going down a very steep grade.

The picture on the left is of a glacier (our camera doesn’t zoom in very well, but I promise it’s there).  The picture on the right is of Brooke hijacking the camera and taking self portraits again.

We went through five long tunnels in a row.  Brooke thought it would be a good idea to go outside to see the tunnels up close.  I’m glad she suggested it.  We really liked being out there even though it was quite chilly.  The last picture is of me telling her it was time to get off the train.  She had a great time and we’ll need to get another train tour eventually.  Thomas is coming up soon!  In fact, that’s the first deadline we have to get home to.