Walkin' to the Glacier

Hi, Everyone:

First of all, to our Jewish followers, Happy Purim.  Second of all, to our University of Michigan followers, GO BLUE!  Beat Duke!

Today we had one of the coolest experiences we've had in Alaska thus far, and we simply could not wait to share it.  We had heard this was possible, but the level of discussion in no way could describe how amazing it was.

Basically, we walked to a glacier and got close enough to touch it.  Let me explain.  As you may remember, at the beginning of the year we took a ferry across a lake to a glacier called Portage Glacier.  The glacier calves a lot (a lot of chunks fall off) and so the boat ride is supposed to be this cool experience to see it crack and fall.  Well, we didn't see much calving but it was still nice to see the glacier from a distance.

But now that it is winter, the lake has frozen over.  This provides an awesome experience where one can walk across the lake (about 3miles) and get right up close to the glacier.  Which we did . . . with one of Steve's co-clerks, Rebecca.

Now the lake is of course icy (seeing as how it is frozen).  But thanks to the snow clip things Steve's parents sent us, we were able to navigate pretty well.  Tammy and Rebecca used the clips, while Steve just kind of slid along the lake.

For those of you who don't remember (or just want to see an awesome change), here's what the glacier looked like in September:

If you want to see more pictures of the glacier in September, go here: http://moosespotting.blogspot.com/2010/09/glacier.html. Obviously the lake below it is what is now frozen.

Now here are out pictures from today.  Look at how different the glacier looks, and how much closer we were able to get.

You can see how large the glacier actually is by comparing the people standing next to it with the mammoth sized pieces of ice.

These pictures are not done with a telephoto lens or zoom.  This is literally how close to the glacier we could get.

One of the neatest ways to cross the lake is to bike across.  Yes, you read me right.  Bike across the frozen lake.  People go out and buy snow tires for their bikes, which allows them to bike on ice.

Anyway, definitely one of the more unique and awesome things we've done in Alaska.  We're both still kind of getting over that we could get so close.  So cool!

That's all for now.  We're almost at 12 hours of sunlight and temperatures are in the 30s.  Warming up and staying bright; summer is on the way!