North to Alaska

This is the big glacier responsible for Glacier Bay.

It's dirty now because it's not moving much anymore.

I realize I haven't put a post in about our Alaska cruise with our Mom's. My Mate and I were not sure it was going to be a "good time had by all", but it turned out to be grand. We all had a good time in our own ways. Mate's Mom got to gamble in the casino on board. My Mom got to be waited on hand and foot and to buy some good bargains. Mate got to eat 3 desserts each dinner if he wanted to and I got to take lots of pretty pictures and I saw some wildlife this time.

We had taken an Alaskan cruise a few years back and I guess it was because we didn't have a balcony, we ended up not seeing anything aside from a few dolphins and a couple of whale spouts. This time, slowly cruising through Glacier Bay, we spotted two brown bears swimming from one side of the bay to the other. They were right out in the middle. Maybe they had heard there were better berries on the other side!

This is Marilyn Glacier, a newer, still active glacier.

We saw lots of whales and dolphins and a seal sailing by on a little iceberg. We spent lots of time playing Quiddler in the game room, which had windows across one wall, and that was a great place for seeing animals. The people with tables next to the windows were good spotters. You would think we would see eagles but I see more eagles in Kitsap County. We got to see and hear calving from one of the glaciers in Glacier Bay and that was suprising--it was very loud even though the piece that fell seemed very small. I am told that some people who went up during a rainy time heard lots of calving. The rain might have been a factor.

We enjoyed our Mom's and showing them around some towns we'd been to before, Skagway and Ketchikan, and seeing some things with them that were new to us. We were both happy to get back, though, and be done with "parent sitting". I'm sure the parents in question wouldn't have thought they were being "sat" but it did feel that way to us.

There are more pictures from this trip at my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/song_bird/