The Up Bay Tour on the Fairweather Express II

We had another clear day! That makes it over a week of great weather. Today we went on the Up Bay Tour. It is an eight hour tour that goes as far north as possible in Glacier Bay. We had a National Park Ranger aboard the boat who was our tour guide, and taught us all kinds of interesting fact about the nature that we saw. We got to see all kinds of wildlife, including a few black bears, a brown bear (grizzles), a lone gray wolf, mountain goats, harbor seals, humpback whales, puffins, and a plethora of birds.

It was frustrating because I wanted to get a closer picture of a bear but it was not to be. The picture that I posted was the closest one I could get. And the funny thing is I took it through the lens of the binoculars because my camera couldn't zoom in close enough. But it worked really well.

It is really something special for us to be able to do things like this. The tour that we went on, for paying customers, is $180, and we went for free. We are truly lucky.

Margerie and Grand Pacific Glacier

The first two pictures are of Margerie Glacier, the glacier that is most famous. To who? I don't know. But we are told it is the glacier that every body comes to see. It was so white that it has a blue glow about it. 

When everyone was quiet, it was almost eerie, because you could constantly hear the cracks and groans of the glacier as it moved and shifted. We got to see a few smaller landslides into the water but no huge chunks fell off. But the sound that the ice made when it hit the water was crazy. It sounded like a shotgun going off in a valley. The noise was surprisingly loud and it echoed. 

The next two pictures are of the Grand Pacific Glacier. It is the main glacier of the bay. I know that it does not look like a glacier but it is not a typical glacier. It is very dirty from all the rocks and dirt that it has picked up along its route to the ocean. 

Not to bore anyone with historic details but a little over 200 years ago this glacier covered the entire length of what is now Glacier Bay. The Lodge is at the entrance of the bay but 200 years ago, where the lodge sits, was solid ice. 

But we are told that "global warming" is not to blame but the retraction of the glacier to it's current location is do to natural causes, including the cohesiveness of salt water.

Our First Time Kayaking!!!

We finally got to go sea kayaking! We have been trying to get out on the water ever since we got here and finally found the time on our day off. From the pictures, you can't tell, but it was actually warm out on the water. It probably helped that we had a lot of layers including water proof jacket and pants.

When we were packing for Alaska, both of us forgot to pack hats and gloves (don't ask us what we were thinking) so we had to go to the gift shop that is inside the lodge and buy some. They will come in handy. Just for walking around, day to day, they are not really needed but when on a moving boat or along the shore and there is a wind, it can get quite cold.

Tomorrow we are going on the Up Bay Tour, which is an eight hour boat ride where we head deeper into Glacier Bay National Park, to a glacier, so the gloves and hats will probably come in handy. I have heard from people that it is a beautiful sight, but near the glacier IT IS COLD.

Whale Watching

Tomorrow the lodge officially opens, so tonight we had our employee party. We got to go on the Glacier Bay tour boat, The Fairweather II, for dinner. We got to experience the dinner/whale watching tour that the lodge offers to tourists.

We were told not to expect to see any whales on the cruise, because it is still early in the season. Usually, whales do not start to appear for a few more weeks, but we got lucky. We saw quite a few humpback whales, along with some sea lions.

There is a video at the end, it's not the best quality but we are still trying to figure the best way to download the video off our camera.

Adventures

We had another great day, so we decided to wonder.

There are only three trails in Glacier Bay National Park, and they are all located near us.

Today we decided to wander down along the cove trail because Ian had to have his hiking boots shipped to Gustavus so had not yet broken them in, and didn't want to go too far in them.

Our First Sunset at Glacier Bay Lodge

There is a campfire pit on the beach about 1/2 mile from the lodge so a bunch of us headed down to watch the sunset, because it was the first clear day in over a week.

And no, that is not us kayaking. Ian took the picture and said that we should tell people that it's us, but I said no way. 

The Restaurant

The Restaurant is located in the lodge and is one of only two restaurants in the area. The view is absolutely beautiful and on the warmer days there is seating available on the deck outside. It isn't very big, on the weekend there will only be five servers on total. But the staff is small with only nine servers, so we will be working quite a bit, but that's what we came up here for. There are a few returning servers, and have told us their favorite thing to to do on their days off it to plan multiple day kayaking trips.

The management is pretty laid back, and even though it is fine dinning, they want to stay away from the robotic serving sequence (music to our ears). We will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We open at 6am (Yuck) but we close at 9:30pm, even on weekends.

Settling In

This is our new home for the summer. And great news, Ian and I got a room to ourselves. As you can see there are four rooms in the front and another four on the backside. (We are on the top right) All together there are three of these building, housing all the employees totaling about 55 people. The rooms are very dorm-like. In our room there are bunk beds on one side of the room and a single on the other with a night stand in the middle at the head of the beds. There is a very small bathroom with shower (Yes!) and a sink with a vanity mirror by the beds. There is a standing dresser and supprisingly large closet space. After unpacking everything, I don't know how we would of had space for a third or even a forth person. 

The employee dinning room or EDR is nice too. It is where we eat our meals and there is a tv and couches for hanging out. 

The meals are great, also. For lunch we had pulled beef sandwiches with mixed veggies, and potato salad. For dinner it was beef ribs, mashed potatoes, friut and mixed veggies. It's not gormet but it good food.

DESTINATION: Alaska

The day has finally come. After months of planning, we were finally leaving for Alaska! But it did come at a price. We had to get up at 4:30 am to catch our 6am flight. But it was well worth it. The view coming into Alaska, I'm sure, was only a preview of what is to come. White covered mountain tops poked through the overcast clouds greeted us as we descended into the Juneau Airport.

After checking into our hotel room we decided to head toward downtown Juneau, which is located 9 miles from the airport. We were hungry. We finally decided on a restaurant on the bay named "Hanger at the Wharf", and of course we had seafood. Ian had some beer battered halibut (Ian is determined to make himself sick of halibut by the end of the summer), while I decided on the Deviled Crab Salad Sandwich. Both were absolutely amazing. As we sat and ate we looked out the window, which over looked the bay, and watched seaplanes arrive and dock on the wharf.

Afterwards, we walked around downtown Juneau as Ian figured out the bus system, just soaking in the scenery. Juneau is surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountains. The high temperature of the day was 51 degrees and cloudy and throughout the day, continually tried to rain (don't be jealous), but we didn't mind.

So now we sit on our hotel room, winding down for the night, relaxing before we head into Gustavus tomorrow. We will be picked up by our employer and will arrive to our new home for the summer. There are many questions we have been wondering for months, that will be answered tomorrow: where will we be sleeping, who will our roommates be, what food are we going to be eating for our $11 a day?... and many more. Wish us Luck!!

The Reception

We were so glad with the ceremony was over! Now it was time to relax and enjoy the best part: the reception. We were so grateful that the people we love the most came to enjoy this special day with us, and we hope that they had as much fun as we did.

Our first dance was "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. 

My dad and I wanted to keep our dance light hearted so we chose "My Girl" by The Temptations.

Ian and his mom, Joan, danced to "A song for my son".

Gotta have my Coke

Anyone who knows me, knows I love Coke! 

I was craving a coke while we were 

taking our pictures and Garrett, one 

of our ushers, was kind enough to 

go a get me one. Unfortunately, I 

think now I must name our first 

born child after him to make it up 

to him.

Our Wedding Day

                                                                                                                            

Oh my Gosh, we took so many photos!! By the end of it my cheeks were shaking every time I had to show my teeth.

We could not have asked for better weather. Especially when it had snowed not a week before. Eeeekkk, I had been so worried about the weather, but it was an absolutely beautiful weekend!!!!