Alaska Bound: 07/03/08

What a WONDERFUL day!!!! We drove down to Seward (about 90 miles south on the Kenai Peninsula) this morning because we had booked a glacier and wildlife watching cruise. It was a 8 and a half hour deal, so we were hoping it would be worthwhile. Well, we got everything we had hoped for and then some. We were to get lunch served on board the boat and we were to get off on Fox Island for a salmon bake. We knew it was going to be a great outing, because we weren't even out of the harbor before we saw our first animals. Perched on top of a metal pole was a beautiful pair of bald eagles!! So close we could almost reach out and touch them. We weren't gone another 30 minutes before we stopped for what Briana and I had been waiting for....the PUFFINS!!!! They are strange looking birds the look like a cross between a penquin and a toucan. Just adorable creatures. We were then back out to sea and a few minutes later a couple pods of Orcas showed up and stayed quite a while for us to watch. It was all so much fun that no one really noticed that the weather wasn't all that good. To top it all off, here came our first encounter with a humpback whale!!! There were about 5 of them around. They are HUGE!! Seeing them was somewhat surreal. We also encountered 2 more of the humpbacks sleeping. Yes, sleeping. The captain told us that humpbacks only shut down half of their brain when they sleep, otherwise they would drown. Crazy, huh?! They just kind of float on the surface of the water. We went on and saw seals and sea lions and TONS more puffins. We also went to an unbelievably huge glacier where the captain shut down the boat so we could all here glacier calving. What an awesome experience. It is not something that you can put into words or pictures. That was really a once in a lifetime experience that none of us will soon forget. While we were making our way towards Fox Island, the weather started getting rough....and I mean rough. The waves were huge! And to try to get across to you how huge....think Deadliest Catch!! Serious. At one time there were at least 30 people on deck throwing up. I'm not kidding. It was a puke fest outside and with every minute the party was getting bigger as the next person would run out. For those of you who want to know, Briana was one of the many that ran out to the "party" and Sheila had an invitation but didn't need to go but it was a close call. Sheila did put on a pretty green face just in case she had to run out. heehee It was so aweful it was amusing. But then our captain came on the speaker to inform us that there was a small boat in distress and we had to go rescue them. WAIT! WHAT?!! Yeah, now we were flying through the water with even more people getting sick to rescue a small boat from capsizing in the waves. What a bonus. You can't make this stuff up people. Well, to make this long story short, we saw dozens of people throwing up overboard, rescued a boat, saw tons of wildlife, witnessed a glacier calving and still made it to our salmon bake on time!! Whew! Now that is what I call a busy day!!!
-Jason

Our tour boat. What an amazing crew!!

Let's get this show on the road!

What a pair!!!!

What will we see next??

The Puffins!!

A puffin.

More orcas!!!! Never get tired of seeing these guys.

The scenery wasn't too bad either.

Yep, that's ice.

THE HUMPBACK!!!!!!

Arctic Sheila in front of the glacier. Yeah, it was that cold.

Mom trying to stay warm AND enjoy the view!!

A shot of the glacier calving. Amazing how loud it is. It sounds like thunder.

Sea lion lounging around.

The boat in distress we had to rescue!!!!!!!!

Today was finally the day Dad has been waiting on!!!!! We went to visit his old Army Base, Ft Richardson. I was somehow surprised that it wasn't harder to gain access to the base. Once I had contacted the Public Relations Office, they were really helpful with providing us with all the details and paperwork and a sponsor which everyone needs to enter the base. Needless to say, he had a HUGE smile on his face the entire time. It was pretty funny how old habits die hard. As soon as we wlked into the first building on base, off came his hat. I didn't really realize what happened until I n oticed ALL of the soldiers doing that exact same thing. As soon as they cross the thresh-hold, shoops, off with the hat. I guess it was drilled into him so hard he never forgot. We were on base for probably 4 hours or so. He had us driving up and down every street possible. We also found the old building where he used to cook for the officers. Unfortunately, it is not one of the buildings we were allowed into. After we left the base, we ALL went up to the ski hill where he took me the oter day so everyone else could see it too. We had a wonderful and emotional day!! This is why we came!!!
-Jason