Saturday, June 21st we drove to Whittier, AK from Anchorage where we were scheduled for a boat tour to see glaciers. The weather was not looking good…..overcast and threatening rain.
The drive to Whittier was great, following the coastline of Turnagain Arm, with water on one side of the road and straight up into the mountains on the other. The route is dotted with many beautiful waterfalls.
We stopped along the way and took a short hike up a trail to view…………
…..Portage Glacier
Then through a small tunnel which was just a taste of the tunnel to come next!
This is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel on the road to Whittier. This tunnel has one lane only and rail tracks run down the middle of the tunnel in that one lane!!!
“The tunnel uses a computerized traffic-control system that regulates both rail and highway traffic. Each vehicle class is metered into the tunnel at different time intervals, with commercial trucks entering the tunnel last. The speed limit is 25 mph and it takes 6.5 minutes to travel through the tunnel.
It is the longest highway tunnel and longest combined highway/railroad tunnel in North America at 13,200 feet.”
Note the tour bus coming out of the tunnel…..
Coming out of the tunnel on the Whittier Side.
Just around the curve and we are in Whittier….
We had some time before boarding the cruise ship so we took a short walk around town and within that short walk we saw the entire town!!!
Hmm…Coast Guard Auxiliary in a rail car….?
Harbor full of private fishing boats…..
Time to check in for our cruise…and the rain started to fall!
Our ship is the small one in front of the HUGE cruise ship!!
The Klondike Express……as soon as we were underway on Prince William Sound, we were served fish and chips for lunch……yum, fresh cod!!! And the rain is increasing!!!
It wasn’t long before we saw “rafts” of sea otters….everywhere!!!
There were glaciers all around us, some were small and some were gigantic.
As you can see from the pictures the weather just kept closing in on us.
Lots of waterfalls………..
Then we came to Surprise Glacier……..WOW!!! It is beautiful, blue, rugged and craggy! As we stopped to view the glacier we heard what sounded like a gun shot and a huge chunk “calved” into the water. As we sat there it continued to calve…….an awesome sight…and sound!!!!
My pictures do not begin to show the beauty of the glaciers but they are totally awesome……..and the sound of the calving is eerie!
This picture shows how cold and wet it was on the trip!!!
On the cliffs we found a kittiwake rookery……thousands of them.
Among our fellow passengers we ran into a gal who has been reading my blog since I started it. Glad to have you “aboard”, Cindy………stay tuned!!!
The cruise was an experience we will never forget and will talk about for long time!!!
Just us kids……back on land again!!!
2 comments:
my pic certainly conveys just how cold it was up there...so good to run into you there and hope to see you again! happy trails!
Wow, I think I was wearing a parka like that here last week.... That tunnel was amazing. I have never seen a tunnel opening like that.
Michelle
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