Seward, Alaska

Seward is a city of about 3,000 people situated on beautiful Resurrection Bay, and also marks the beginning of the Seward Highway, which ends in Anchorage. It is situated on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula, and takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Anchorage. You can also take the Alaska Railroad to Seward, which takes a little over 4 hours, and travels along the Turnagain Arm and then through uninhabitated terrain, including an up close and personal view of Spencer Glacier.

Seward has a bustling boat harbor, which offers many wildlife and glacier viewing or fishing charter day trips in the Kenai Fjords. Seward hosts a town-wide 4th of July party and the main highlight is the Mt. Marathon race. Runners must scale Mt. Marathon, approximately 3022 feet above downtown Seward. The coarse is 3.1 miles and participants often dress in costume and often cross the finish line covered in mud and scrapes. A few miles outside of Seward is Exit Glacier, and the trails allow you to get real close.