While we were being rained out in Fairbanks, we had checked the weather and it looked as if Monday would be the very best chance of any sunshine for a Glacier Cruise. So when we arrived in Anchorage on Sunday evening we all felt that the timing was great. After a good nights rest we called in our reservations - thank goodness as the cruise was totally filled up for the day and we would definately not have go on there without the reservation! The road from Anchorage to Whittier is beautiful. Whittier is about 58 miles south of Anchorage along the Cook Inlet and has really awesome views of glaciers and snow capped mountains and shiny waters and and and........ The water looked rattled, with white caps bouncing all over the place - not peaceful or friendly at all. The only land access to Whittier is through the Anton Anderson tunnel, the longest combined vehicle-railroad tunnel in North America - two and a half miles long. It is the first US tunnel with jet turbine and portal fan ventilation, first to use computerized regulation of rail and highway traffic and can handle -40° F temperatures and 150 mph winds. I took pictures as we drove through, but they all came out orange and filled with squiggly lines from the lights of the cars in front of us. The walls of the tunnel are wet and in places the water drips through from the top - but not too much. There are "safe houses" along the way in case of a problem, but I have to admit that I did not get a warm fuzzy feeling from these... This tunnel was only opened to cars in the year 2000 - before this it was only a train track. Sharing the drive with a train track is not reallly comfortable as the wheels of the RV hooked into a track but did not stay there and the sides are pretty close. I know that there really is more than enough space, but the idea of being in a tunnel of this length and one that has a humongous mountain with a glacier all of its own, on top of us was quite a thought........I found that I was definatly not comfortable in there this time either.
The boat we went on, The Emerald Sea, was the same as last time and was dwarfed by the enormous cruise ship, the Coral Princess. We had a good hour to walk around Whittier and it was not too cold at all - best of all - we had blue skies and absolutely no sign of rain at all - wonderful! It seemed impossible that everyone would fit on the boat, but we all did and quite comfortably too. As soon as we left the dock and headed out into Prince William Sound, the stunning views arrived. Everywhere we looked, there was either an icefield, beautiful waters, a glacier or awesome looming mountains. It was great seeing Frank and Wendy become friends with their respective cameras and click away at all the beauty around - they had often laughed at how many photos I had been taking! Frank and I had been on this cruise a few years before, and it was lovely watching Wendy's reactions to the new view at every turn - at times she literally had a stunned look on her face as she looked at what was out there. I had told her that it gets "beyond cold" close to the glaciers and I am not sure she believed me, but fortunately she brought enough warm clothing along. It was not too long before she was shivering and asking if this was the "beyond-cold" I was talking about. When her face lost feeling - THEN she knew!
Every time I turned my head, there was a different and equally beautiful view..but there really is a different and humbling feeling when you are 'parked' quietly below a slowly moving glacier with ice in the water gently bumping against the boat. The way you have to lift your head up to see all the way to the top, that incredible blue, the countless waterfalls flowing from everywhere around the glacier - even from underneath. The sunlight glinted off a million points and lit up the surrounding areas of ice sometimes leaving it white and other times turning it that tremendous blue that is so difficult to describe. All of this and the gulls dipping and diving around gave it all a fairytale look and feel. The sky was crisp. Its impossible to explain its clarity, but it was clearer than any other place we have seen, and this definately added to the beauty and feel of the place. It is phenomenal to stand and look at these glaciers that are so tremendously old and try to picture what the world was like so many years ago.
The glacier only calved a very small piece of ice which was a little dissapointing so the captain got us all to shout loudly to try and help it along....... needless to say that after we had all yelled as loud as we could - twice - he laughingly asked us if we now all felt better! He also stated that it was guaranteed to get the glacier to calve - 45 minutes after we left! The mood on the boat was great with many people taking photos for other couples in front of the waterfalls and glaciers. The food was great, the views were awesome and it was colder than any of us had been in a very long time which made us appreciate the complimentary coffee and warmth inside so much more. There was ice floating in the water all over the place and we even found an iceberg - it certainly would not have sunk the Titanic, but when the captain nudged it - we bounced and "the berg" just sat there.......
We saw both fresh water and salt water otters - I forgot to listen to the explanation of that piece of information - but the sun glistening on the water, the birds gently cruising the sky, the white and the blue of the glaciers and icefields and the different greens of the mountains and hills split by waterfalls all the way from the sky, are what got me breathing deeply. The movement of the boat, the free feeling - especially when almost everyone was inside and it was blissfully quiet outside - those are truely soul refreshing moments. When we left the glaciers, the sun touched on the wakes of the water creating beautiful silvery twirls and there was another boat stopped at the glacier which gave the whole view some size perspective. Truely awesome.
When we were waiting outside the tunnel before the cruise, a couple came across and was chatting to us about the RV being all painted. They knew two people battling the disease, so now we have Rachel L and Sarah W riding with us too! They were wonderfully kind and gave us a donation to pass on to the LLS as well. Really lovely, sweet people.
We were tremendously fortunate to have a totally clear day on Monday, we really could not have asked for more at all. That night it rained again and the weather forcast rain for everywhere in Alaska for the next ten days, so we decided to leave Anchorage and head towards BC and less wet weather. We stayed awake fairly late, looking at the all the photos - mine alone were 693! Wendy took over 100 and Frank close to that too.... so many awesome memories. My poor printer will be working overtime when we get home again! I will put up some photos as soon as we get to another place with high speed - promise!
Anyway. Monday was totally wonderful and Tuesday we started to 'the outside' as the Alaskans say. The Outside is the lower 48's - I like the way that is said. Anchorage had also recieved their 'terminal dusting' on Saturday night, which is the first dusting of snow which heralds the end to summer up here. A somewhat sad day for many as it gets progressively darker and colder from then onwards. So it was a good time for us to leave.....and we did
More later......... :-)
Love and Light Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXXXXXxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.PenniesforCancer.com www.Livingwithcml.blogspot.com
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