On Tuesday, we drove two hours out to Matanuska glacier. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it was truly breath taking. The terminus (the end of the glacier) was HUGE and it spanned the whole valley.
As soon as we got there, everyone jumped out of the van and started running toward to massive hunk of ice. Along the way to get to the edge of the glacier, I stopped by a pool of water and the dirt was the finest stuff I've ever felt. Each sand/dirt grain must have been tiny because it was so smooth. I also managed to get stuck in some quicksand-like mud, which turned by boots completely gray. I'm glad I finally got a good use out of them. The next two hours were spent exploring the ice and climbing around, trying not to fall into any deadly crevasses. Luckily everyone survived. The entire day was amazing, definitely my favorite of the trip so far. The sites were beautiful, the ice was cold, and my toes remained nice and warm thanks to my boots. The only bad part was when I fell into a little stream on the glacier and got my butt wet with freezing glacial melt. But even that was kind of cool because not many people can say they've done that.
Wednesday morning we woke up and started our journey to Seward, Alaska. Seward is located on Resurrection Bay, which is near where the Exxon oil spill was, so some oil washed into the bay about 20 years ago when the spill occurred. The drive was long and it was a nasty day with lots of rain. Once we arrived in Seward, we checked into our hostel and then headed to town.
Town is apparently about four streets, so there really wasn't that much to do. Alaska's only public aquarium is there, though, so we spent the afternoon looking at fish, seals, and puffins.
They had to typical touch pools that most aquariums have for little kids, only this one had dozens of star fish. Some were hard, almost bony. Others were surprisingly soft. The one shown below is a sun flower star fish, which I thought was cool.
It was a little depressing to see the seal and sea lion in such small areas. I guess when you're little, you're excited to see these awesome creatures and you never think about how they're taken away from their homes and forced into a tiny area. Now, though, it's just sad to see them. But they were still cute. And even though they're so awkward on land, they really can swim. I wish I had half of their swimming skills.
The night at the hostel was interesting. There was another large group of high school kids who were also staying there along with their chaperons. But they mostly stayed in their rooms, so I didn't see much of them. One woman who was also staying there was very friendly and she told us all about her Alaskan travels. It was difficult to get to sleep because someone in my room was snoring, but I would definitely be up for staying at another hostel. I would just make sure to pack ear plugs. Other than that, it was a lovely experience.
Finally it was the big day -- Thursday. We were supposed to take a half day cruise through a couple bays to look at glaciers. Sadly the weather was not on our side, so we didn't get to leave Resurrection Bay, which mean we didn't get to see the good glaciers a couple of bays over. However, we still got to see tons of wildlife. Whales, otters, lots of seals, tons of birds, and even a mountain sheep. It was incredible. The whales were definitely my favorite.
That's a little hard to make out, but it's a whale's tail. I didn't take that many photos of the whales since they were visible for such a short time. I'll check if anyone in my group got any good photos and post them here when I find them.
But it was amazing. We saw two whales swimming together and an otter mom and baby. We saw sea lions hanging out on the rocks in a large group. We saw various sea birds and their new born chicks. It was a great day. Plus the boat ride was fun, and they provided lunch. What more could you ask for?
Today is my last full day in Alaska, so I'm hoping to make the best of it. Last Alaskan update will come later this evening/tonight.
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