Before 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!

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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

Yesterday mom and I flew to Glacier Bay..first we had to fly to Anchorage. Denali was out, but the engine was in the exact viewing point as the mountain..good thing I've seen it many times lol (I saw one of its glaciers through the clouds, possibly Eldridge). After that short flight we flew to Juneau..I saw some cool glaciers before it clouded up..I'm pretty sure one of them was Harvard Glacier! It has super awesome moraines. :D It usually takes an hour and some minutes to fly to Juneau from Anchorage, but the bad weather made the traffic back up, so we had to divert to Sitka to get more fuel. I'd never seen Sitka before, so that was cool lol. Eventually we took off and got to Juneau just fine..I'd never been to the airport in Juneau (dad and I stopped there on the ferry through the Inside Passage a few years ago), so that was cool to see too (we saw an eagle!). After a little time to kill there, we boarded the plane for Gustavus/Glacier Bay. I looked for Mendenhall Glacier, but it was on the other side! At least I got a glimpse of it. :P If I thought the flight from Fairbanks to Anchorage was short, it has nothing on Glacier Bay..it only took like 20 minutes! Probably the shortest flight I've ever been on lol. After we landed a bus took everyone to their respective hotels. After we got our room (which has great pics of glaciers lol) we explored outside..there are baneberries EVERYWHERE, which are super poisonous. D: We stopped in the Visitor Center..I showed the Park Ranger lady my pic of Harvard Glacier and she was like "wow, this picture is amazing!! Check out the moraines, it's like moraine pie!" OMG lol..I've compared moraines to chocolate on ice cream, but never pie! Awesome. :P I love seeing others get excited over glaciers too! This Tlingit lady gave us a presentation telling of their history in Glacier Bay..they kept almost getting wiped out by natural disasters, but always managed to survive..wow. After that we had dinner and went back to our room (which doesn't have wi-fi, boo! We have to go in the main building of the lodge for it)

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OMG. Yesterday we drove to Whittier (not very far from Anchorage..maybe an hour or so away). We were gonna stop at Portage Glacier along the way but we missed the turn and couldn't really turn around. I sill saw Portage Lake and I was like "OMG!" when I saw the icebergs floating in the water..wasn't expecting that haha. I saw the glacier around the mountain though (and other hanging glaciers driving there too). The only way to drive to Whittier is to go through a tunnel built into the mountain..and it's only one lane so every 30 minutes for 15 minutes they let cars go out (and trains have to use it too). Whittier was on the other side..it's tiiiiiny..and there's almost NOTHING to do in town. Less than or around 300 people live there and most live in this one apartment building. And it's cloudy and rainy all the time. The glacier cruise was in the afternoon..while we were waiting it started POURING rain. They said cloudy days are good days to view glaciers cause you can see the blue well. As we left the harbor the forest ranger guide pointed out a glacier and we were lucky to see it cause the clouds weren't obscuring it (I THINK it might have been Billings Glacier). We then headed to College Fjord! We didn't go all the way in the fjord for some reason..but I still saw Harvard Glacier!! I've soo been wanting to see that one!! There's also Yale Glacier and a bunch of other ones. Harvard is advancing and Yale is retreating. Then we went to see Surprise Glacier (and passed Barry Arm on the way. Mom said she saw Barry Glacier calve!). OMG we got up SO close to Surprise Glacier!!! I was shaking and it was NOT from the cold haha. And then..WE SAW IT CALVE!!! AND I got it on video!! OMG I was thrilled haha. That was addictive..being up close to the glacier face like that haha. Then we headed to Barry Arm (had to think of Margerie guy since he went there :P). Three glaciers are there..Cascade, Barry and, Coxe. We couldn't get in all the way to Barry Glacier cause of all the ice. We did get rather close to Cascade though. Then we stopped at a kittiwake rookery (they look like seagulls) and then went back to the dock. Fastest 4 hours or so of my life. :P Then we just went back to the hotel

Today we woke up to the storm someone said would come..it was crazy windy, raining, the water was choppy and there was some thunder. We were hoping the weather would be better on the other side of the tunnel where Portage Glacier was..buuut nope. They were still doing boat rides though so we decided to go. It was less windy by the glacier. We got up close to Portage also!! It was FREEZING haha. We saw Portage calve too!!! I was like "WHOOO YEAH!! *jumps up and down*" I think I heard it creaking or cracking. There was this one big piece of ice that had a crack in it and I was just waiting for it to calve off (I was begging.."PLEASE CALVE PLEASE CALVE!!" haha) but it didn't before we left. When I went back inside the boat I was SOAKED. :P Getting up close to tidewater glaciers = WIN. Then we drove to Seward. It was raining there too. :P Though it's bigger and nicer than Whittier. We brought our stuff to the hotel (it's called Exit Glacier Lodge!) and then drove to Exit Glacier. We put on plastic rain poncho things and hiked up to the glacier. We took the trail to the river valley that takes you to the very bottom of the glacier where you can touch it but I just couldn't get over a river channel (unless I wanted to get my shoes wet). We got to the top and we were the closet I've ever been to a glacier. Wowwww. We got back to the bottom and I was just ITCHING to touch the glacier. I tried to cross the river channels again. I was trying to use rocks and this big stick to get across. I was DESPERATE. Finally I was like "whateverrr" and just got my feet and pants soaked and finally got across ("WHOO YEAH I MADE IT!!"). Though I still had to cross another channel before I could get to the glacier but I finally, finally made it. I touched Exit Glacier. :D I was at the side of the glacier and I heard these people talking about it being unsafe cause of rockslides and I look behind me and see this big rock on the cliff RIGHT above me and I was like "yeaaah I'm leaving now." :P When I was going back I realized I was walking on the terminal moraine! I was HUNGRY after doing that haha. WE ate dinner and went back to the hotel where I am now

We go back to Fairbanks tomorrow..I work Tuesday..so I'll try to get my pics up when I have time. Wooo exciting glacierness! :D

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Skipping the definition of the day :P

I listened to Tinnitus Sanctus by Edguy and I really liked it! Especially the chorus to Dragonfly..it's AWESOME. And Speedhoven had ENERGY haha. Wooooo

I'm in love with Harvard Glacier haha..its moraines are AWESOME :P

*drools*

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Bear paws: Fat, roundish snowshoes worn while chopping wood and doing other chores around the homestead