Aug 13, 2018 - Beauty Beyond Words

After our cruise ship left Skagway we traveled 183 miles, overnight, to Glacier Bay National Park. We passed by the Takhinsha and Chilkat Mountain Ranges on our way into the park constantly looking for wildlife such as moose and bear but all we saw where mountain goats. We spent an entire day in Glacier Bay National Park viewing the pristine environment and gazing upon the immense and spectacular glaciers, ice floes and icebergs. 250 years ago there was no Glacier Bay, it was all glacier and no bay. It was a massive river of ice, roughly...

Aug 4, 2018 - Rocking and Rolling Across the Gulf of Alaska

No photos today as we crossed the Gulf of Alaska. It was a day of very light food choices, naps, repacking and planning the clothing needed for our first travel day on land since our luggage had to be in the hall by midnight in order to be loaded on the proper luggage truck. The ship's motion began to calm by mid-afternoon and Maria and I agreed it had not been nearly as bad as the storm in the North Atlantic aboard the QM2 two years ago. The quiet day provided time for last minute shopping and music and a Test Kitchen presentation which...

Aug 3, 2018 - Cruising Glacier Bay

Our day cruising Glacier Bay was rainy and foggy so my photos are not the greatest, but the glaciers are terrific. We cruised into Glacier Bay and began to see small chunks of ice, then more chunks of ice and finally the glaciers themselves. There were events going on as usual onboard but I hung out on the deck for many hours snapping photos in the foggy mist. There were two presentations during the afternoon of special interest. First was a presentation by a Park Ranger from Glacier National Park who told about the creation of Glacier Bay....

Jul 20, 2018 - Glacier Bay

After we left Yakutat Bay and the Hubbard Glacier, we sailed on towards Glacier Bay on Friday, July 20th. Glacier Bay is a National Park, so we picked up two National Park Rangers who stayed on board until we left the park that evening. As we entered Glacier Bay, we could see another cruise ship in the distance, and saw one smaller glacier on the left side of the bay. We moved on into Glacier Bay and we saw other glaciers all around us. In fact, Glacier Bay itself was actually carved out by a glacier that moved through the area 1000 years...

Jul 6, 2018 - Glacier Bay National Park

Took a flight from Juneau to Gustavsus Alaska to see Glacier Bay National Park. This place is awesome. we stayed at the lodge for one night instead of two as our flight on Alaska Airlines was, get this, cancelled due to excessive heat. it was almost 83 degrees but, dang cancelled? Actually we understand that the landing strip goes spongy when the temperature gets over 80, which is unusual. Anyway, we had originally booked two days at the lodge but really only needed one. We took a great hike on the "hard" when we got there. The next morning...

Aug 6, 2017 - Glacier Bay NP

Last entry of a great trip. Glacier Bay NP. These are mostly tidal glaciers although you can see another inland glacier taken from our flight back to Anchorage. Saw a bear near some kayaker. He was doing his bear things of hunting for food and swimming. Kayaker made noise and faced him without threatening--very appropriate for engaging with w bear in the wild. Saw the glacier calve and caught on video but too large to upload--I will try on Facebook. Look there for more pictures. Heading home Tuesday

Jun 13, 2016 - Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay

Yesterday (Sunday, June 12th), we cruised into Yakutat Bay and spent several hours viewing the massive Hubbard Glacier. Today (Monday, June 13th) we spent most of the day cruising through Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is home to the continent’s largest collection of tidewater glaciers. We saw numerous glaciers but our favorite was the Margerie Glacier as we were lucky enough to see it calving. It sounded like a cannon when the massive bergs hit the water and sent tons of water spraying high into the air. Margerie...

Jun 13, 2015 - Onboard Celebrity Millenium to Hubbard Glacier

Saturday, June 13, 2015 Onboard Celebrity Millenium to Hubbard Glacier TRAVEL QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end." - U.K. LeGuin Whoa, I slept hard! Woke at 8:00 and it was still hard to get going. Watched the cruise director's tv show - that's the first real TV I've seen in a month!! Went up to breakfast in the Oceanview Buffet. Busy but we got a table for 2; I got eggs benedict - my standard cruising breakfast - I love them! Art got his usual cereal, bacon and...

Aug 7, 2014 - Glacier National Park

AUGUST 07 Glacier Bay My two major goals for this trip were dogsledding and visiting Glacier Bay. As it turned out, Dogsledding was a bust. My thoughts now turned to Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay National Park consists of 3.3 million acres of mountains, glaciers, rainforests, and fjords. It’s part of a 25-million acre World Heritage Site and is one of the world’s largest internationally protected areas. The ice in the bay is melting at an alarming rate. In 1794, when Glacier Bay was first surveyed, the entire bay was filled with a glacier that...

Aug 4, 2014 - At Sea

As I write this on the promenade deck of theNCL Pearl. When I was young and or a car ride, I got carsick. When I flew on a plane, I got airsick. All my life when I was on a boat, I got seasick. After my stroke, I frequently dizzy. So, it should come as no surprise that I would seasick on the cruise. Once I discovered was that I cannot read or write on a moving vessel. But if I can write Journal during the cruise, I would soon forget the details events that occurred. That would prevent me from writing about it. How would I saw solve this...

Jul 11, 2014 - Glacier Bay National Park (from the boat)

Today the ship sailed into Glacier Bay National Park. Along the way, we picked up a park ranger who came on board to be our guide through this beautiful area. She brought a park stamp with her, so Betty was able to get an unexpected addition to her National Park Passport book. Up until a few thousand years ago, glaciers regularly grew and retreated throughout North America and then finally receded almost completely. But, just a few hundred years ago, there was what was known as the "Little Ice Age" and Glacier Bay was formed. Around 1750,...

Jul 30, 2013 - Glacier Bay, Southbound

Today, we went back to Glacier Bay again. What a total difference from last Friday when we were here going northbound and it was cloudy that day. Today was clear, blue sky and I was actually out on deck in my shirt sleeves. That was a first in Glacier Bay, to not need a jacket. It was beautiful! Most of the day is spent cruising into Glacier Bay and listening to the Park Ranger’s narration along the way. We saw some sea lions on an iceberg right by Marjorie Glacier, the most prominent glacier that we look at. We spent about an hour there,...