It's COLD in Alaska! -- Our Trip Part 2

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!!


On August 4th we celebrated Alex's 41st Birthday by visiting the Hubbard Glacier in Glacier Bay. I must admit that I wasn't feeling all that overwhelmed with excitement to look at a big chunk of ice, but my feelings certainly changed. It was indescribable -- thus the pictures:


This is is the Glacier as it recedes back further into the bay.

The ship found a good viewing place and then turned around 360 degrees so that everyone on the boat could see all sides of the bay.

Every once in a while a section of the glacier would break off. You knew it was coming because you could hear it crack and shift. The shear power of the melting ice was amazing. It takes 100 sq. feet of snow to equal 1 sq. foot of the glacial ice -- it looks so blue because blue is the only light wave that can penetrate the density of the ice.

The next day we headed into Alaska's capital, Juneau, for some kayaking near the Mendenhall Glacier. We saw porpoises (black dolphins) and 2 Bald Eagles. There are about 38,000 people in Juneau and more than 40,000 Bald Eagles -- crazy! It was fun to do some kayaking with Doug & Nicky, Mike & Steph and Will & Melanie. It was kind of a pain because the current kept pushing us in the opposite direction that we wanted to go but we got a decent upper body workout...a good thing since we'd be gorging on cruise food for several days. After we got back from our kayaking trip we did a little shopping, flagged down a mailman to take our postcards and just hung out downtown.

We had to be back on the ship by 2:30 -- then we were all ready for a bit of a nap. That night we enjoyed Karaoke. It was great!

What a trip -- Part 1

Well, we just got back from a wonderful week long cruise to Alaska with Alex's family --- Adults only! It was really a great time! We went to Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan as well as a quick stop in Victoria BC. I just wanted to post a few pictures to update things.

Day 1 & 2 were spent on the ship just relaxing and sailing. It was cool but still pretty nice and it was great to relax. On Sunday, August 3rd we made our first trek from the boat to Sitka, Alaska. Most of us just explored the town of Sitka and spent time shopping, eating, shopping and relaxing -- 4 of Alex's brothers (Paul, Doug, Mike & David) braved the open seas for some deep sea fishing. They caught a couple of King Salmon, which had to be tossed back since the season was closed early, Pink Salmon, Coho and Sea Bass. Doug won rock-paper-scissors and had all the fish shipped to his place in Minnesota. The rest of us were just glad not to be horribly seasick.

The town itself was pretty cool. It was the main town during the Russian period and as a result has a lot of architecture and culture influenced by the original Russian settlers. Another thing that was cool was that there were all these little islands in the bay that had only one house on it. The way to and from home was by boat -- pretty isolated but also very cool!