Tracy Arm, Alaska

The third adventure on our Alaskan cruise happened entirely on board the ship.  The ship took an excursion into the Tracy Arm Fjord for a viewing of the Dawes Glacier.

The captain came on the loud speaker the night before we entered the Tracy Arm area.  He said that we would enter the fjord at about 5 AM and that we would reach the glacier about 7 AM.  I told Robyn I definitely didn't want to miss it, so we needed to be awake.

Of course,  I had been waking up ridiculously early for the entire trip.  I normally wake up around 7 AM in Utah.  7 AM in Utah is 5 AM in Alaska, so I would usually wake up at 5 and  be completely done sleeping.  Of course, the early to bed, early to rise lifestyle is not the best for a cruise.  They have all sorts of shows and activities late at night.  But by 8:00 every night I was ready for some good sleep.

However, this one day was the day for the early risers.  (If they ever invent a time machine, someone should go back and read this blog to High School me.  It would blow his mind that I am an early riser.)  I woke up ridiculously early as usual.  I still read my book for a little while before waking Robyn.  I figured we could miss some of the fjord, but I definitely didn't want to miss the glacier.

Around 6:30, we got dressed and headed up to the top deck.  If we had a window room we could have just enjoyed the view from our room, but we didn't so we headed up top.  I didn't really mind though, I absolutely loved the chilly Alaskan air.  It's the freshest smelling air you'll ever breathe.  Not to mention, how awesome is it to be in 40 degree weather in July?

When we got to the top deck, we walked around the whole ship to check everything out.  People were crowded around the bow, looking at the glacier off in the distance.  We picked an uncrowded spot on the port side and just watched amazing nature go by.

Every half mile or so, there were these little glacier fed stream/waterfalls.

I loved the greenery with the mountain backdrop and the wisps of fog.

We saw 5 or 6 seals.  These were chilling on the ice, others would swim on top for a moment and then vanish

Before we reached the Dawes Glacier, we saw this one off in the distance.  I imagine there were dozens of glaciers all around us that were too high to see.

After we'd been up there 20 minutes or so, we ran into my parents as they were making their way around the ship.

Notice the mug in my mom's hand.

On the ship, you can eat all the food you want in the buffet for free.  However, when ever you come up to the top deck, you always encounter people selling drinks.  I was never interested because I don't drink alcohol, but this particular morning they offered hot chocolate.  It was like 5 dollars, so I still declined, but my mom bought some.  The thing is,  they just asked her if she wanted hot chocolate, they handed her the mug and asked for money.  My dad was mad because he didn't realize it cost money.  They almost gave the mug back, but decided they'd just do it.  I guess we're a cheap family.  That's just how we roll.

Finally we started to approach the glacier.

The ship was able to get about a mile from the glacier.  Then the captain just rotated the ship in place.  I didn't realize they could do that.  But it just sat there and did a 360 degree spin for about an hour, spinning around 3 or 4 times in that span.  That way all parts of the ship had a chance to get a front row seat.  We had staked out a good spot on the edge and just waited for our spot to become the front row.  When the time came, people came and crawled all over us for a minute, but it was all good.  The scenery was beautiful.

We make the glacier look precious.

I was blown away by the deep blue color.

I loved the deep blue color.  It looks like frozen antifreeze or something.  I don't know what causes it, but the little floating pieces of ice were really blue as well.

At one point, we were standing there looking at the glacier and chatting, when a huge chunk of it fell off.  (The word on the street is that they call that "calving".   I call it "breaking off a big chunk".  Calving does seem more concise.)

I looked around to see if we were in trouble for breaking the glacier, as the giant chunk fell into the water.  After a few seconds there was a roaring sound like thunder.  I wish I had gotten video, or even just audio.  The sound was amazing.  We felt like we were pretty close up, but the delay in sound made us realize how far away we really were.  That means the glacier is much more ginormous than I realized.

Finally, after enjoying the view for a long time we made our way to the main dining room for breakfast.  I enjoyed my eggs benedict and watched out the window as the ship slowly made its way back out of the fjord.  We chatted and watched Alaska go by as the ship began its journey toward our final stop in Victoria, British Columbia.

Juneau, Alaska: Sea Lions and Glaciers and Whales Oh My!

As most of you know, I recently returned from a cruise.  It's taken me a while to get around to writing about it.  It was amazing!

Our first port was in Juneau, Alaska.  I saw whales!

Before I tell you anything else, I just need you to see this great picture Robyn took.

It's a tail of a whale!

I feel better now.  That just had to be done.  Did I mention I saw whales?

But I suppose I can tell you the story of what happened the entire day.

First of all, I wore pants.  

This is my view while waiting for the ship to dock.

People had told me tales of how cold Alaska is.  Since we were going whale watching, I figured the boat moving quickly over water would make it pretty darn cold.  I should have stuck to my gut and worn shorts.  Even Alaska doesn't get cold enough for long pants.  At least not in July.  (I imagine if I was doing the Iditarod, I'd want some long pants.)

The first thing we did in Alaska was get on a bus.  The company that we booked our whale watching with had a tour bus that took us around.  The driver was super knowledgeable and super fun.  She drove a school bus in the lower 48 during winter and came up to Alaska during the summer to drive a tour bus.  She gave us lots of information about Juneau.  Things like the fact that you cannot drive to the city of Juneau.  Alaska's capitol is only accessible by air or sea.  Who knew?  Also, Juneau has a Walmart.  She was very excited to tell us that.

The weather forecast: Cloudy with a chance of bears and eagles

The first stop the bus made was at the Mendenhall Glacier visitor's center.  We had only paid for whale watching, but they said the bus stops at the Mendenhall Glacier first, so that was included for free.  I'm really glad we got to do that, it was beautiful.  

The hike to the best viewpoint for the glacier was about 1 mile round trip.  We booked it out there as fast as we could because our time there was limited.

The Alaska wilderness was rejuvenating, as evidenced by Robyn's pose

Zack and I were precious as we approached the glacier.

The closest you  can get to the glacier without getting in a boat or swimming is from nugget falls.  Here is a panorama to show you the view from the shore.

As you can see, the glacier is still across a bit of water, but Robyn was able to get some sweet shots, nonetheless.

This is about what it looked like with the naked eye

This is with Robyn's telephoto lense.  I love the blue color.

We enjoyed the view of the fall and the glacier for about 15 minutes, then it was time to book it back so we didn't miss the bus.

Our next stop was at Auke Bay Harbor, to go see whales!

I took a selfie with the locals

We learned some fun facts.

Finally we got on a boat

The cold wind made Robyn sad

The boat didn't have to go very far before we started to see wildlife.  After just a few minutes the boat slowed down to let us see the eagles.

They also took us by this little buoy where the sea lions like to hang out.

How the one climbed into the higher area is one of life's greatest mysteries.

Finally, we got to see whales.  I think my favorite picture was the awesome tail shot up above.  But here are a couple others.

Here is a whale hump.

Here is a whale spouting 

Whale watching was a neat experience.  Our guides would pull up to an area in the boat.  They would point to an area of water and tell us there is a whale out there.  We'd keep our eyes peeled until we'd suddenly see a spout.  We probably saw 10 different whales during the time we were out there.  It was super amazing.

After the whale watching, we still had some time before we had to get back on the ship.  We walked around downtown Juneau.  We noticed there were several Russian shops.  I guess that's the thing when you're that close to Russia.  

I really wanted this hat, but I didn't 85 dollars want it.

Robyn is the cutest babushka ever.

We did see a bear while we were there.  Unfortunately, it was stuffed.  It was the only bear I saw in Alaska.  It is my belief that all Alaskan bears are stuffed.  That is based on my extensive experience in Alaska.

Also, I never saw Sarah Palin.  Based on my experience, she is not in Alaska.