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Whitey & Micki Van Deusen: Owners & Officers since 1984 |
Trails North was established in 1984 to provide Shuttle Bus Service to visiting cruise ship passengers wanting to get from the Alaska Railroad Cruise Dock to downtown Seward, which is a walk of 1.5 miles one way! Back then Seward was a “Port of Call “for most visiting cruise ships. Since people were in Seward for a full day and were looking for something “else” to do, we developed “The Best of Seward Tour” to go along with the offered shuttle bus service to downtown and back. |
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| The Best of Seward Tour has developed and changed over the years but has continued to provide visitors with not only a chance to see the local sites along with Exit Glacier, but they also get to hear about what it is like living and raising a family here in Seward, Alaska. Along with narration on local history, points of interest, natural features, flora and fauna we also talk about our family, and share a few personal, humorous stories about unique experiences we had while living at an old gold mining cabin 50 miles north of Seward, in the Chugach Mountains. There is also opportunity to look for bear, moose and bald eagles along with many excellent photo opportunities. |  |
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From 1992-2007 the “Homestead Cabin” was included as part of our Best of Seward Tour. This was our family home, a renovated, hand hewn, log cabin from the early 1900’s. In 1986 we took apart the cabin as a family project, moved the logs to our property and then restored it before putting it back up. It was the most beautiful little cabin and setting in the big woods! We lived right off the Old Exit Glacier Road so it was easy to pull the buses in on the return trip from Exit Glacier. “Where do you live? We want to see your cabin! Can we see your dogs?” People just loved seeing our place and dogs and this was where we told several of our stories from!
In October of 2007 we sold our log cabin home and property. It has been a transition starting over again from scratch but we look forward to the new opportunities this gives us. The 2008 summer season went great! We love sharing Seward with visitors! Princess Cruises pulled in with the Tahitian Princess for a Port of Call 8 times. We were honored to offer them our Best of Seward Tour with some new changes which allows for more time at Exit Glacier. People continue to want to hear about life in Alaska so we continue to entertain them with some of our unique “stories” during the tour. Whitey was voted “Tour Guide of the Season” for 2008 by Princess passengers. He gives a great tour! |
We also continue to do tours with other visiting groups and several RV Caravan groups. It has been so great working with all of them through the years! These visiting groups love to have a good time! At this time we are getting ready for and looking forward to the 2009 summer season in Seward! |
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