Today we didn’t get off the boat, so we took it kind of easy in the morning. It wasn’t long before 
we entered Glacier Bay National Park. This isn’t like most national parks; you enter it on the water, not on land. It was a beautiful day and we had some amazing views of se
veral hanging and tidewater glaciers. We spent quite a while in front of Margerie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. As a tidewater glacier, it comes right down to the waterfront. Margerie Glacier has a front that is nearly a mile wide, though it didn’t seem like that as we sat in front of it. It rises 250 feet above the water, and more than 100 feet sits below the water line. It is very blue, as the water is so compressed that only the blue color is reflected out of it.
Next to Margerie is the Grand Pacific Glacier. The front of this glacier is more than two miles
wide, and the ice field that feeds 
it stretches back 23 miles. Thinking about all of the water that is contained in these glaciers, and the power they possess as they grind away at the mountains is nothing short of awesome. The Grand Pacific has a lot of stone and debris in it, making it look ‘dirty” compared to many of the others.
We also swung by some of the other glaciers in Glacier Bay, most notably the Johns Hopkins, Lamplugh, and Reid glaciers. The Johns Hopkins has a tremendous number of harbor seals that use the area as a nursery, so our big ship wasn’t able to go down the inlet where it sits.
We did get to see some calving while we were there. Calving is what happens when a chunk of the ice breaks off and crashes into the water. This is how icebergs are formed. While you may not know where the calving will happen, you get a little notice with a loud
“crack”, much like lightning and thunder.
By late afternoon, we left Glacier Bay and were on our way out into open water. Alan and Joyce were surprised throughout this trip at how calm the water seemed. While it was a bit more choppy and rocky, it never got to the point where we had to hold on to the wall to walk down a hallway, thankfully!
This evening was another “Formal” night, so we took advantage of the formal pictures settings to get another full group shot taken. The first one didn’t capture us all at our best, so we thought we’d give it another try with a more formal backdrop. The result turned out pretty good! The Schaeffers and the Dunnucks had family shots take
n,which also came out pretty nice. The Welchs were pretty satisfied with the shot they had on the first formal night.
Lobster was the main attraction on the menu for tonight. The kids decided to join us again, but didn’t elect to go with the lobster. About half of the rest of us did, and we were happy to see that Cesar was prepared to take the meat out of the shells for us. We also had large sea prawns, which Cesar also took care of for us. By now, Cesar and Joseph were doing a good job of anticipating what we were going to order and having it ready for us.
Princess also decided to honor Louise for her 75th birthday today. Her cabin was decorated with balloons, and she got a special chocolate soufflé dessert, complete with a chorus of happy birthday from the table and wait staff.
The evening’s entertainment was a collection of songs and dance to hits from Motown. Alan went to the show by himself, while Joyce took over child care responsibilities. She split time between the cabins for the first hour while Alan was at the show, and then Alan took Jon’s spot with Paul, and Joyce spent the night with Sydney. That gave the elder Schaeffer’s some time to appreciate what the “Love Boat” had to offer. We’re sure that they spent the night watching the “Love Boat” reruns that were always showing on one of the channels.
we entered Glacier Bay National Park. This isn’t like most national parks; you enter it on the water, not on land. It was a beautiful day and we had some amazing views of se
veral hanging and tidewater glaciers. We spent quite a while in front of Margerie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. As a tidewater glacier, it comes right down to the waterfront. Margerie Glacier has a front that is nearly a mile wide, though it didn’t seem like that as we sat in front of it. It rises 250 feet above the water, and more than 100 feet sits below the water line. It is very blue, as the water is so compressed that only the blue color is reflected out of it.Next to Margerie is the Grand Pacific Glacier. The front of this glacier is more than two miles
wide, and the ice field that feeds 
it stretches back 23 miles. Thinking about all of the water that is contained in these glaciers, and the power they possess as they grind away at the mountains is nothing short of awesome. The Grand Pacific has a lot of stone and debris in it, making it look ‘dirty” compared to many of the others.We also swung by some of the other glaciers in Glacier Bay, most notably the Johns Hopkins, Lamplugh, and Reid glaciers. The Johns Hopkins has a tremendous number of harbor seals that use the area as a nursery, so our big ship wasn’t able to go down the inlet where it sits.
We did get to see some calving while we were there. Calving is what happens when a chunk of the ice breaks off and crashes into the water. This is how icebergs are formed. While you may not know where the calving will happen, you get a little notice with a loud
“crack”, much like lightning and thunder.By late afternoon, we left Glacier Bay and were on our way out into open water. Alan and Joyce were surprised throughout this trip at how calm the water seemed. While it was a bit more choppy and rocky, it never got to the point where we had to hold on to the wall to walk down a hallway, thankfully!
This evening was another “Formal” night, so we took advantage of the formal pictures settings to get another full group shot taken. The first one didn’t capture us all at our best, so we thought we’d give it another try with a more formal backdrop. The result turned out pretty good! The Schaeffers and the Dunnucks had family shots take
n,which also came out pretty nice. The Welchs were pretty satisfied with the shot they had on the first formal night.Lobster was the main attraction on the menu for tonight. The kids decided to join us again, but didn’t elect to go with the lobster. About half of the rest of us did, and we were happy to see that Cesar was prepared to take the meat out of the shells for us. We also had large sea prawns, which Cesar also took care of for us. By now, Cesar and Joseph were doing a good job of anticipating what we were going to order and having it ready for us.
Princess also decided to honor Louise for her 75th birthday today. Her cabin was decorated with balloons, and she got a special chocolate soufflé dessert, complete with a chorus of happy birthday from the table and wait staff.
The evening’s entertainment was a collection of songs and dance to hits from Motown. Alan went to the show by himself, while Joyce took over child care responsibilities. She split time between the cabins for the first hour while Alan was at the show, and then Alan took Jon’s spot with Paul, and Joyce spent the night with Sydney. That gave the elder Schaeffer’s some time to appreciate what the “Love Boat” had to offer. We’re sure that they spent the night watching the “Love Boat” reruns that were always showing on one of the channels.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment