26 Glacier Cruise!
Sep. 21st, 2024 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glacier_kittyBefore I left for Anchorage, I was looking to see if there was anything glacier-y to do, because I hadn't gotten my glacier addiction fed in awhile LOL, but things like Portage Glacier and the train ride to Spencer Glacier were done for the season, and mom didn't want to do flightseeing since she's still recovering from covid (the change in air pressure is AWFUL when you're sick). Last night at dinner the urge was nipping at me again, so I was looking online again and remembered the 26 glaciers in one day cruise I did in Whittier in 2009, so I Googled that, and amazingly, their season was still going! Mom said sure for that, so I booked it! (Especially since we saw it was supposed to be sunny!) Yay! The tour was going to board at 11:45, so we didn't have to get up obscenely early, which was nice lol
Whittier is about 60 miles from Anchorage, so we left around 9 something. As promised, it was amazingly beautiful and sunny!! I checked the weather and it was the ONLY sunny day, everything else was rain! Last minute adventures are the best, mom and I have gotten so lucky with those! Somehow we bring the sun with us, even to places where it rains like 95% of the time haha. The only way to drive to Whittier is through a 2 mile long tunnel, where every 30 minutes cars on one side of the tunnel go through, and then the other side gets to, and we got there in time for the 10:30 drive. So weird driving through a mountain haha. Almost all of the population (200 some people) live in one building, which also has a post office, school, grocery store, etc. The tunnel also closes after 11:30, so you're basically trapped with all your neighbors overnight. Ummmm NO thank you. D: I was panicking just *thinking* about being trapped there. The building had been renovated since I last saw it in 2012, which looked nice..it looked so drab before lol. It was SUPER windy there for some reason..I was worried I'd be too cold on the boat!
Mom and I got our tickets and were wandering around when this kid saw me and excitedly told me how much he loved Mario games haha. Being autistic, I had a feeling he was too, and it didn't take long for me to feel a bond with him. His name was something like Malcahai, but I can't remember for sure. We also drove around (no gift shops were open, sad!)..we drove around the apartment building and I loved seeing everyone's curtains LOL (visitors are allowed on the first floor, but you can't take pictures of the residents without their permission..well yeah, that would be weird O_o)
Eventually we boarded and left, and quickly saw the first glacier, Billings (after you leave Whitter, you can also see Whitter Glacier, perched above the town). I love being on boats and just felt happy and smiled at the scenery haha. While heading towards College Fjord we had lunch, and after that I went outside. It was way warmer than I thought it was going to be! Of course it was cold when the boat was moving, but it was fine when we stopped. It was so amazingly gorgeous! That glacier-filled place is my version of paradise haha. The sun and the wind did make it hard to take pictures though. There was a raft of cute sea otters too! We passed by Cascade Glacier, but we didn't go in that fjord like we did in 2009, we just headed straight for College Fjord and Harvard Glacier. There are many glaciers in the fjord, and it was cool going by each one. Ones like Barnard and Vassar you could tell had been retreating by the bare spots on the rocks, and then we passed Bryn Mawr (that means "large hill" in Welsh), which looked dramatically different..way more of it was in the water and it just looked healthier! To me, it looked like it had been advancing, because of the moraine at the front of the glacier looked like it had been pushed by the glacier recently. Cool!
Last time on the cruise we didn't go all the way up to Harvard for some reason, but this time, we got SUPER close, one tenths of a mile away!! SO cool!! Harvard is also advancing and you could tell because it just looked healthy and magnificent and there were no bare spots around it. Around this time I met up with Malachai again, and it was fun talking with him and his dad ("what if the WHOLE FACE breaks off?!?" "Uh..nothing good" haha). It did calve for us a bunch of times, nothing HUGE (but judging by the already calved ice, it mostly drops smaller pieces), but still so cool! They may have been "smaller" (probably way bigger than you think lol), but it still sounded like thunder when they hit the water! That and the creaking of the glacier as it moves is SO fun to hear!! Malachai's dad said the glacier was alive and talking to us..it really is! Everyone's videos probably has me freaking out along with calving ice LOL. We actually spent quite a bit of time at the glacier, usually it feels too short to me. Now I'm going to tell everyone I went to Harvard this weekend LOL
Eventually we had to leave (*tear*), and then checked out some sea lions and a fish hatchery (at Lake Bay..uhh, who named that place?? Haha) and then went to Blackstone Bay and saw a few more glaciers (Beloit, Ripon, Blackstone, etc). I didn't see those last time either, it went to Surprise Glacier, so they've changed things up since 2009 haha. We got kind of close to Blackstone (which was very hard to take pics of because it was in the sun), hung out there for awhile and then went back to Whittier. Such a satisfying, great day!! I wish I could have said goodbye to Malachai, but I didn't see him after I got off the boat..he was a cool kid though! Mom and I got pizza and then drove back to Anchorage..the orangey sunset looked so cool against the mountains! I've now overdosed on beautiful scenery haha, but at least I got my glacier fix. :P I've lived in Alaska for 16 years and I still think "I can't believe I live here!" An amazing place <3
Tomorrow mom and I drive back to Fairbanks..I'll miss the glaciers, but not the traffic haha. I'll post my pictures when I get back home, but here's one for now:
Oh yeahh! Harvard is epic :D
21. How Impulsive Are You? A perfect question for today haha! I'm definitely pretty impulsive, and I love when it works out like today. Not good when I'm hungry at the grocery store though :P
Whittier is about 60 miles from Anchorage, so we left around 9 something. As promised, it was amazingly beautiful and sunny!! I checked the weather and it was the ONLY sunny day, everything else was rain! Last minute adventures are the best, mom and I have gotten so lucky with those! Somehow we bring the sun with us, even to places where it rains like 95% of the time haha. The only way to drive to Whittier is through a 2 mile long tunnel, where every 30 minutes cars on one side of the tunnel go through, and then the other side gets to, and we got there in time for the 10:30 drive. So weird driving through a mountain haha. Almost all of the population (200 some people) live in one building, which also has a post office, school, grocery store, etc. The tunnel also closes after 11:30, so you're basically trapped with all your neighbors overnight. Ummmm NO thank you. D: I was panicking just *thinking* about being trapped there. The building had been renovated since I last saw it in 2012, which looked nice..it looked so drab before lol. It was SUPER windy there for some reason..I was worried I'd be too cold on the boat!
Mom and I got our tickets and were wandering around when this kid saw me and excitedly told me how much he loved Mario games haha. Being autistic, I had a feeling he was too, and it didn't take long for me to feel a bond with him. His name was something like Malcahai, but I can't remember for sure. We also drove around (no gift shops were open, sad!)..we drove around the apartment building and I loved seeing everyone's curtains LOL (visitors are allowed on the first floor, but you can't take pictures of the residents without their permission..well yeah, that would be weird O_o)
Eventually we boarded and left, and quickly saw the first glacier, Billings (after you leave Whitter, you can also see Whitter Glacier, perched above the town). I love being on boats and just felt happy and smiled at the scenery haha. While heading towards College Fjord we had lunch, and after that I went outside. It was way warmer than I thought it was going to be! Of course it was cold when the boat was moving, but it was fine when we stopped. It was so amazingly gorgeous! That glacier-filled place is my version of paradise haha. The sun and the wind did make it hard to take pictures though. There was a raft of cute sea otters too! We passed by Cascade Glacier, but we didn't go in that fjord like we did in 2009, we just headed straight for College Fjord and Harvard Glacier. There are many glaciers in the fjord, and it was cool going by each one. Ones like Barnard and Vassar you could tell had been retreating by the bare spots on the rocks, and then we passed Bryn Mawr (that means "large hill" in Welsh), which looked dramatically different..way more of it was in the water and it just looked healthier! To me, it looked like it had been advancing, because of the moraine at the front of the glacier looked like it had been pushed by the glacier recently. Cool!
Last time on the cruise we didn't go all the way up to Harvard for some reason, but this time, we got SUPER close, one tenths of a mile away!! SO cool!! Harvard is also advancing and you could tell because it just looked healthy and magnificent and there were no bare spots around it. Around this time I met up with Malachai again, and it was fun talking with him and his dad ("what if the WHOLE FACE breaks off?!?" "Uh..nothing good" haha). It did calve for us a bunch of times, nothing HUGE (but judging by the already calved ice, it mostly drops smaller pieces), but still so cool! They may have been "smaller" (probably way bigger than you think lol), but it still sounded like thunder when they hit the water! That and the creaking of the glacier as it moves is SO fun to hear!! Malachai's dad said the glacier was alive and talking to us..it really is! Everyone's videos probably has me freaking out along with calving ice LOL. We actually spent quite a bit of time at the glacier, usually it feels too short to me. Now I'm going to tell everyone I went to Harvard this weekend LOL
Eventually we had to leave (*tear*), and then checked out some sea lions and a fish hatchery (at Lake Bay..uhh, who named that place?? Haha) and then went to Blackstone Bay and saw a few more glaciers (Beloit, Ripon, Blackstone, etc). I didn't see those last time either, it went to Surprise Glacier, so they've changed things up since 2009 haha. We got kind of close to Blackstone (which was very hard to take pics of because it was in the sun), hung out there for awhile and then went back to Whittier. Such a satisfying, great day!! I wish I could have said goodbye to Malachai, but I didn't see him after I got off the boat..he was a cool kid though! Mom and I got pizza and then drove back to Anchorage..the orangey sunset looked so cool against the mountains! I've now overdosed on beautiful scenery haha, but at least I got my glacier fix. :P I've lived in Alaska for 16 years and I still think "I can't believe I live here!" An amazing place <3
Tomorrow mom and I drive back to Fairbanks..I'll miss the glaciers, but not the traffic haha. I'll post my pictures when I get back home, but here's one for now:
Oh yeahh! Harvard is epic :D
21. How Impulsive Are You? A perfect question for today haha! I'm definitely pretty impulsive, and I love when it works out like today. Not good when I'm hungry at the grocery store though :P
